Imogen Usherwood
Student spotlight details
Imogen was drawn to our part-time Master's in Creative Writing as she wanted to explore and develop both her fiction and playwriting skills. During the course, she wrote the first draft of a novel and a one-act play, which she then took to the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
'I applied to the MSt in Creative Writing after completing my BA in English Literature at Durham University, while I was working in the drama department of a boarding school and working out my next move. I knew that I wanted to write, and felt that a master’s degree in creative writing would offer me the time, space and motivation to do so. I would not usually have considered a part-time course, but the structure of the programme proved ideal as it allowed me to keep my job for a second year, and I really enjoyed the combination of a very sociable job like teaching with the solitary experience of writing.
'Part of the reason that Oxford’s course appealed to me is because of its multidisciplinary nature: I am both a fiction writer and a playwright, and being on a programme that could foster both of those skills was really important to me. In my first year, I wrote a one-act play which I subsequently took to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with a production company that I founded with some fellow coursemates. In my second year, I wrote the first draft of a novel, which I know would not have happened without the guidance of my supervisor, and the course deadline holding me to account.
'The termly residentials were intense in the best way possible, and everyone on my cohort became very fast friends after our first four days together. I really think one of the most important things that you take with you after the course is over is the people – not only have I gained a wonderful group of friends, but also a group of fellow writers, who know my work well and are always willing to discuss new ideas or give feedback to each other.
'While on the course, I also did my best to make the most of what Oxford University has to offer; I moved to Oxford for my second year and, after the pandemic had blighted my undergraduate studies, was keen to throw myself into student life as a postgrad. As well as being a writer, I am a theatre director, and there were lots of dramatic opportunities to seize. I was able to stage the play I’d written in the University’s Burton Taylor Studio, as well as directing Oxford University Dramatic Society’s national tour production in 2024, The Taming of the Shrew. The highlight, however, was being appointed Assistant Director to Sir Greg Doran, who was the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Drama that year. He directed a production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and as his assistant I learnt so much about Shakespeare and the craft of theatre directing. It was a life-changing opportunity for which I will aways be grateful.
'Now I have finished my MSt studies, I am working as Resident Theatre Director at a boarding school in London, and writing as much as I can. I was very lucky to sign with an agent in my first year of the course, and am looking forward to working with her on some new fiction projects.
'To anyone considering applying for an Oxford Continuing Education course, I would say that you absolutely must! It comes with so many opportunities and precious experiences, with a flexibility that more traditional courses can’t match.'
