Course information
Department
Length
1 year full-time or 2 years part-time
Course overview
Launched in 2015 through the joint vision of Professor Deirdre Osborne and Professor Joan Anim-Addo, this ground-breaking MA is timely and necessary. We take Black British literature seriously as a discipline.
"Goldsmiths’ MA in Black British Writing is the only one in the country, ergo the only one where our Black British books dominate the syllabus. We rarely appear on university reading lists, other than as token gestures."
Bernardine Evaristo MBE (Author, Booker Prize co-Winner 2019)
Why study MA Black British Literature at Goldsmiths
This Masters degree is a world first. There’s nowhere else you can study black British writing in such an in-depth way – in the actual country where the writing is produced. We trace diasporic and aesthetic routes and draw upon the expertise of literary and drama specialists.
You’ll analyse an extremely diverse range of texts from novelists, poets, short story writers, essayists, life-writers and playwrights. You’ll also locate these writers in their historical context, gaining an understanding of the history of black people in Britain through how they are represented in literature.
"A Master’s degree programme that enables the serious study of the creative and artistic history and achievement of black British novelists, poets, short story writers, essayists, and playwrights.”
Professor Emerita R Victoria Arana, (Howard University, Washington DC)
Black people continue to be massively underrepresented in academia. Literature written by black authors is often missing from university course lists. The Black British Literature Masters degree is a vital step in increasing intellectual awareness of, and amplifying these black British voices. In studying this Masters, you will become part of this process. It is a decolonised degree in action.
We welcome applications from those seeking academic careers, teachers looking to decolonise their curriculum, professionals who are returning to learning, and performers and artists who wish to develop their analytic and critical thinking skills.
Based in London you have access to all the resources the city offers including the Black Cultural Archives London, the Black Plays Archive at the Royal National Theatre, the National Archives, The British Library, George Padmore Institute as part of fieldwork tasks and further research.
Internships
Students of the MA Black British Literature have the opportunity to apply for one of two paid one-month summer internships with Hachette, one of the big four global publishing houses.
These offer pro-rata pay in line with the Hachette starting salary of £24,000/year. The internships aim to give students a broad understanding of how a major publishing house works, learning about the role that each department plays in the life of a book. You will be able to attend meetings within a range of departments, network and connect with staff across the company, and get hands-on experience of the day-to-day tasks carried out by in-house teams.
Hear from two students who undertook the internships, and from the publisher who talks about why it's so important for publishing houses to attract, retain and nurture a diverse and representative workforce.
These internships give you much sought-after practical experience and have recently led to one of our graduates being employed in a full-time position with the publisher.
Contact the department
If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Professor Deirdre Osborne.
