Creative Writing

Writing is often romanticised as an individual, even isolated, pursuit. But all writers grow when they share their work and receive feedback from teachers, editors, readers and—perhaps most crucially—other writers. After all, writing exists to be read: it needs an audience.

Studying creative writing at university, you’ll join a community of writers, learn from experienced and passionate teachers, develop your craft, and find your audience. Whether you’re a poet, memoirist, short story writer or novelist, you’ll learn how to turn experiences, ideas and imagination into works of literature ready for publication.

Creative Writing Student Showcase

Staying: A memoir

Published author

‘A wounded, lovely, luminous book about grief, trauma and the strange healing potential of words’ says acclaimed Australian writer Tim Winton about Jessie Cole’s latest work Staying.

Jessie delves into her wild and carefree bush upbringing, in the heart of the Tweed Valley on the NSW North Coast, for the inspiration and setting for much of her fictional and non-fictional work.

Her first novel Darkness on the Edge of Town was shortlisted for the 2013 ALS Gold Medal and longlisted for the Dobbie Literary Award, while her second novel Deeper Water was released to much critical acclaim the following year.

Staying: A Memoir was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award.

Jessie graduated a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in writing and narrative studies, before going on to complete Honours.

Visit Jessie Cole’s website to learn more.

Writer and festival administrator

Surfer and Southern Cross University Arts Honours graduate Emily Brugman is riding high after securing a publishing deal and being shortlisted for the 2020 Vogel Literary Award.

Salt water runs through her veins. Growing up on the NSW South Coast, the emerging writer was catching waves with her brother from the age of 10. Emily’s grandfather, a Finnish migrant, worked as a fisherman on the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago, 60km off Geraldton WA, in the 1950s and 60s. Emily’s writing reflects these experiences. Until recently she had a regular column, Curious Species, in the surfing magazine Tracks.

“You slowly find what you’re interested in. I grew up surfing so that was a natural direction for me to take.”

Emily has a secured a separate publishing deal with Allen & Unwin because of her 2020 Vogel Literary Award shortlisting.

She relocated from Sydney to Byron Bay in 2016 to enrol in a Bachelor of Arts with Honours.