Courses

Courses in Writing for Children and Young Adults

Joining a good writers’ group, who meet regularly, can be a stimulating and relatively affordable way to develop your skills as a children’s books author. Many people find them a great source of encouragement and support, although some find one-to-one feedback easier to manage. If you really want to hone your writing and directly access an experienced professional as a touchstone for your work, there are plenty of creative writing courses available on all levels across the country. The following are some that are specifically geared to writing for children and young adults, and ones that we know to be top quality.

Arvon run Britain’s best respected and acclaimed creative-writing courses. They organise specialised, week-long children’s and young adult writing courses at four beautiful, rural centres – in Yorkshire, Scotland, Shropshire and Devon. Grants are available to help with fees. www.arvon.org

Tŷ Newydd, Literature Wales’s acclaimed national centre for writing courses, organises several courses in writing for young people each year. This year they have so far confirmed a course entitled Writing Fiction for Young Audiences 13-17 April. http://www.literaturewales.org/courses/

Bath Spa University – MA in Writing for Young People. www.bathspa.ac.uk

Manchester Metropolitan University – MA in Creative Writing for Children. http://www2.mmu.ac.uk/english/courses/postgrad/

Winchester University – MA in Writing for Children. www.winchester.ac.uk

Courses in Illustrating for Children

Anglia Ruskin University – MA in Children’s Book Illustration. www.anglia.ac.uk

University of Central Lancashire – MA in Children’s Book Illustration. www.uclan.ac.uk

Courses in Children’s Literature

The study of great children’s literature is growing as more and more people recognise its formative importance and creative brilliance. The following courses offer what seem to us to be wonderful luxury!

Birkbeck University run short courses on Children’s Literature. www.bbk.ac.uk

The University of Roehampton is the home of the National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature, hosting research talks, publishing academic pieces of work on the subject and providing MA, Mphil and PhD courses. You can study for the MA onsite or by distance learning – obviously fantastic for non-London residents and those needing a very flexible timetable. www.roehampton.ac.uk

The University of Bolton – MA in Children’s Literature and Culture. www.bolton.ac.uk

Canterbury Christ Church University – MA in Literatures of Childhood. www.canterbury.ac.uk

University of Glasgow – MEd in Children’s Literature and Literacies. www.gla.ac.uk

Goldsmiths University – MA in Children’s Literature. www.gold.ac.uk

Reading University – MA in Children’s Literature. www.reading.ac.uk

Trinity College, Dublin – Mphil in Children’s Literature. www.tcd.ie

Cambridge University – Mphil/MEd in Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature www.educ.cam.ac.uk