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Study Writing.
Study options.
Why Flinders?
Get inspired
Enquire now, develop your skills as a professional writer and prepare for a career in both new and traditional fields..
There’s more to writing than just books. Every day, words are used to communicate ideas and information in an engaging way.
As a writer, you could work as an editor, publisher, author, freelance writer or researcher in all types of industries, including media, advertising, technology and business.
You’ll spend time researching, interviewing and writing. You could produce a range of creative work including novels, scripts, children’s books or poetry. You could follow a path into academia and use your writing skills to publish articles and conduct life-changing research. You could dive into the media world and become a features writer, news journalist or podcaster.
⬆︎ 11% Authors and book and script editors
* national skills commission, 2021 employment projections for the five years to 2026, ⬆︎ 7.1% journalists and other writers, ranked no.1 in sa in creative arts for full-time employment, student support and teaching quality., (the good universities guide 2024 (undergraduate)).
Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)*
Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing major)
Bachelor of Creative Industries (Writing & Publishing)*
Bachelor of Arts (English major)
*Available at Flinders City campus.
Study at Flinders City campus. Where potential meets possibility.
More information
Study at Flinders City campus. Where potential meets possibility.
Creative Writing, and Writing and Publishing are industry-focused degrees that prepare you for employment in a variety of positions in a highly dynamic and diverse international industry.
Potential occupations
Studying creative writing and publishing can lead to a variety of jobs. These include freelance writer, publishing assistant, copywriter, editorial assistant, researcher, journalist and content producer.
Potential employers
Whether you are looking for local, interstate or international employment, your skills will be highly sought after by newspapers, magazines, television stations and other media production companies.
Why study Writing at Flinders?
- Connect with industry leaders
- Join a legacy of artistic excellence
- Be mentored by practising creative artists
- Be equipped with the knowledge of the latest evidence-based practice
I love how Creative Writing can create new worlds, preserve history, make people feel represented, provide an escape and that it's a craft where the only limitation is the boundaries of what we can imagine.
I was originally studying for a different degree at Flinders, but I wasn't enjoying it. I not only wanted to learn, I wanted to be passionate about what I was learning. So, I transferred into Writing & Publishing. I decided that it would be amazing if I could tell some stories of my own and maybe even help others to tell theirs. Writing & Publishing teaches me how to improve my writing, how to improve others writing, and the kind of industry I can expect to enter when I graduate, if I decide that's the path I want to take.
Tessa Schuster, Bachelor of Creative Industries (Writing and Publishing)
Connect with global writers .
You will benefit from our strong connections to industry leaders that will provide you with practical skills, and you'll have the opportunity to connect with them through bespoke guest lectures and workshops. Our students have worked with:
Study Creative Writing
- Kevin J Anderson, International Association of Media and Tie-in Writers Grandmaster
- James Bradley OAM, award-winning author, editor and journalist
- Isobelle Carmody, award-winning and bestselling author
- Clare Connelly, Amazon All Star bestselling author
- Clare Forster, Senior Literary Agent, Curtis Brown
- Kate Forsyth, award-winning and bestselling author
- Jo Mackay, Head of Local Publishing, HarperCollins
- Vanna Morosini, Company Principal, Flying Kite Pictures
- Garth Nix, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author
- Tim Sanders, producer of The Lord of the Rings
- Robert Shearman, award-winning author and Doctor Who screenwriter
- Jonathan Strahan, award-winning international editor
- Lynette Washington, Publishing Director, Glimmer Press
- Kim Wilkins/Kimberley Freeman, award-winning and bestselling author
Hannah Kent’s debut novel, Burial Rites , has taken the literary world by storm. Winning several awards and landing on shortlists for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Guardian First Book Award, it has been translated into over 20 languages and is being adapted into a feature film. Hannah is also the co-founder of Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings .
Dr Amy Matthews
Meet the Flinders Creative Arts and Industries.
Meet The Creatives
Dr Sean Williams
Meet Dr Sean Williams, one of Australia’s most-awarded speculative fiction writers.
What does it mean to be fearless in the Arts?
Watch to find out what it means to be fearless in the arts to our creative arts staff.
Teaching staff
Our incredible teaching and research staff within the creative writing and publishing sector are experts in their professions and well-connected to industry.
“Fiction in all its glory! I write commercial fiction under the name Tess LeSue with Penguin Random House USA. Publisher’s Weekly calls my work ‘witty and memorable’; RT Book Reviews praised it for being ‘a delightful rollercoaster ride’; Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews gave my latest book five stars and All About Romance summed it up as ‘funny, romantic and appealingly entertaining, [while] unflinchingly portraying the ugly underbelly of the old west’.”
An award-winning novelist, Dr Amy Matthews is the Chair of Writers SA and a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Flinders University. Amy’s academic and teaching skills have also been recognised in multiple honours and awards.
As Tess LeSue, Amy’s romance fiction novels have seen her stamp her mark on an industry worth over $1 billion and accounting for over 50% of all paperbacks sold.
Amy is a highly skilled, engaging lecturer in touch with both the scholarly and commercial aspects of Creative Writing.
Dr Sean Williams is one of Australia’s most-awarded speculative fiction writers. With over forty novels and one hundred and twenty short stories for adults, young adults and children, the #1 New York Times -bestselling author certainly ‘walks the walk’ as a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Flinders.
“My work has been nominated thirty times for the Aurealis Award, in the categories of Science Fiction Novel and Short Story, YA Novel, Children’s Novel, Fantasy Novel, Horror Short Story, and Collection. Also, for the Ditmar Award my work has been nominated seventeen times in the categories of Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Collection, and Professional Achievement. In 1999, I received the “SA Great” Award for Literature.”
Sean’s literary achievements are incredible, ranging from speculative fiction to realism, resulting in him being named the “King of Chameleons” by Australian Book Review for the diversity of his published output.
Dr Lisa Bennett
"As author Lisa L. Hannett, most of Dr Lisa Bennett's works are categorised as 'Dark Fantasy' or 'Horror', which is hilarious considering all versions of Lisa are afraid of the dark."
Lisa Bennett teaches undergraduate and Honours classes in Creative Writing and English, and she is a specialist in Old-Norse Icelandic literature, the Viking Age, genre fiction, and creative practice. She is the author of Writing Bestsellers: Love, Money and Creative Practice (with Kim Wilkins; Cambridge University Press, 2021). Lisa regularly writes reviews for the ABR and is a frequent guest on ABC Radio's 'Book of the Week' segment.
Under her pen name, Lisa L. Hannett, she is an internationally recognised, multiple award-winning writer of five short story collections, a novel, and over 80 speculative fiction short stories (fantasy, science fiction, horror, and historical fiction). Lisa's recent book, Viking Women: Life and Lore (Thames & Hudson, 2023) combines her research expertise and her skills as a storyteller, presenting speculative biographies of Viking women from all ages and social strata (slaves, housewives, mothers, far-travellers, young girls, old widows, and anchoresses) alongside engaging historical context.
Alex Cothren
Alex Cothren’s multi-award-winning short stories address social issues through the lens of satire, parody and comedy-horror. Featuring haunted pokies machines, political bee cults and chainsaw-wielding bears, his weird works have graced (or marred) the pages of our country’s best publications, such as The Griffith Review, Meanjin, Overland , and Island . In 2023, he was named a Griffith Review Emerging Voice.
“Each time I hit ‘send’ on a story, I assume this one will be too dark, too strange, too close to the bone. But the editors keep publishing them! I guess our literary gatekeepers are as sick as I am…”
His stories may be tongue-in-cheek, but Alex takes the transformative power of the arts very seriously. His current research focuses include how the arts can help our health and wellbeing, and how storytelling can offer a new path forward in our climate crisis. An award-winning teacher, Alex introduces play and creativity into every class, propelled by a belief that students’ stories can truly change the world.
Take your study global with a semester exchange
Living and studying overseas presents you with the unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the local culture while continuing your tertiary study at one of Flinders University’s 70+ overseas partner universities.
Why wait until you graduate to see the world? Let our program offer you the educational adventure of a lifetime.
Phone: 1300 354 633
Email: [email protected]
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- Flinders University
- Courses and programs
Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)
The Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing) requires three years of full-time study. The course is offered by the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law. Enrolment in the honours program may be offered to a student who meets certain academic criteria and subject to the school/department being able to provide appropriate resources and staff to supervise the program of study.
Admission requirements
Course aims, learning outcomes, program of study.
The minimum requirements for consideration for entry to all undergraduate courses are specified in detail in the University Entry Requirements. Additionally, applicants will have to demonstrate their creative abilities through the submission of a portfolio, written statement, curriculum vitae and referee details.
The aim of the course is to prepare students for a professional life by:
- equipping students with practical skills in writing, research and editing, so that graduates will be experienced in a variety of forms that are required in both literary and professional contexts;
- producing students who are critical readers with competent editing skills;
- developing in students an understanding of literary genres, styles and forms, which includes an understanding of their historical, social and cultural contexts;
- developing in students an understanding of the culture of writing and publishing in Australia;
- producing graduates who will be able to think flexibly, collaborate with others on group projects and solve problems creatively;
- enabling students to acquire communication skills that will enhance the performance of their own work as well as be useful in any profession where oral presentation of material is essential.
Upon completion of their degree, students will have gained specific practical and analytical skills in creative writing. In addition, students will have developed a range of transferable skills. Practical skills In specialising in the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing), students should:
- demonstrate their ability to produce creative work to a high standard in their chosen program
- become effective members of creative production and planning teams
- understand the processes involved in the production of creative work
- be able to analyse and critically evaluate ideas and solve problems
- be familiar with theories, factual content and research methods relevant to their program of study including an awareness of practices related to their chosen program
- be familiar with aspects of the arts industries relevant to their chosen program.
Transferable skills Students will also develop:
- communication and presentation skills (oral, written, electronic, graphic)
- teamwork and interpersonal skills
- the ability to give and receive constructive feedback
- management and planning skills.
To qualify for the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing), a student must complete 108 units with a grade of P or NGP or better in each topic, according to the following program of study.
The award of a grade of Fail (F) on more than one occasion in the same topic may constitute prima facie evidence of unsatisfactory progress for the purposes of the University’s Policy on Student Progress.
Stream - Creative Writing
Core - year 1 topics.
22.5 units comprising
CREA1001 Introduction to the Creative Arts (4.5 units) CREA1021 Introduction to Creative Writing (4.5 units) ENGL1101 Approaches to Literature (4.5 units) ENGL1102 Reading and Writing Short Stories (4.5 units) SCME1003 Essential Multimedia (4.5 units)
Elective - Year 1 topics
plus 13.5 units of year 1 topics. Elective topics may be selected from any offered by the University, provided topic prerequisites are met.
Option - Year 2 - Group A topics
Select 27 units from the topics listed
CREA2100 The Craft of Writing Workshop (4.5 units) CREA2106 Creative Arts Theory and Practice (4.5 units) CREA2122 Reading and Writing Poetry (4.5 units) CREA2132 Writing for Children (4.5 units) CREA2134 Publishing and Editing (4.5 units) CREA2141 Life Writing (4.5 units) ENGL2140 Epochs of English (4.5 units) SCME2071 Introduction to Script Writing (4.5 units)
Option - Year 2 - Group B topics
plus 9 units from the topics listed or other topic(s) approved by the course coordinator
ENGL2120 Shakespeare (4.5 units) ENGL2121 Adaptations: Reading Texts and Film (4.5 units) ENGL2130 Crime Fiction and Film: From Poe to the Postmodern (4.5 units) ENGL2131 Twenty-First Century Literature: Texts and Contexts (4.5 units) ENGL2133 The Anglo Saxon World (4.5 units) ENGL2142 Fiction for Young Readers (4.5 units)
Option - Year 3 topics
Select 31.5 units from the topics listed
CREA2122 Reading and Writing Poetry (4.5 units) CREA2132 Writing for Children (4.5 units) CREA2134 Publishing and Editing (4.5 units) CREA2141 Life Writing (4.5 units) CREA3100 Advanced Creative Writing Workshop (4.5 units) CREA3101 Prose Fiction Writing (4.5 units) ENGL3110 The Big Books 1 (4.5 units) ENGL3111 The Big Books 2 (4.5 units) SCME3074 Adaptation and Transformation (4.5 units)
Elective - Year 3 topics
Refer to Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours)
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Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)