The course is intended for students who are seriously committed to writing, are practising, or prospective authors and who wish to develop their writing within the framework of a university course and in the context of an Irish literary milieu. It involves the close and critical examination of the students' work in group workshops and under guided personal tuition, with the study also of the professional techniques of book editing and publishing, and the opportunity to explore the cultural and literary contexts of writing in Ireland.
Applicants, who are expected to have a university degree or equivalent qualification, are selected on the basis of a submitted portfolio of recent creative work.
Students are required to take workshops, attend courses of lectures, and take one special subject or specialist writing workshop, while continuing to develop their own individual work throughout the year.