Curtin University

In the 1970s Curtin was the first Australian university to offer an undergraduate major in creative writing. The Professional Writing and Publishing major was later added to provide creative writers with an industry-focused professional dimension to their work. It is now established as one of Australia’s most respected writing programs, and it leads the field of studies in Western Australia.

As well as the thriving creative and professional writing undergraduate courses based on campus, Curtin University now offers a fully online writing degree via Open Universities Australia. The doctoral program in creative writing has an outstanding reputation, drawing students from around Australia and producing award-winning popular novelists. Our graduates include some of the best writers in the country. Among them are Miles Franklin Award-winning novelist Tim Winton, novelists Jon Doust, Deborah Robertson, Brooke Davis, Yvette Walker and Jacqueline Wright, and poets Tracy Ryan and Phillip Salom.

There has also been a long succession of Australia’s best writers who have taught at Curtin, from Elizabeth Jolley to Kim Scott, and currently including crime and non-fiction writer David Whish-Wilson, and the much celebrated and prolifically published poet John Kinsella.