England

Please tell us where you live so that we can provide you with the most relevant information as you use this website.
If you are at a BFPO address please choose the country or region in which you would ordinarily be resident.
Accessibility statement
An image to illustrate Travel writing short course
This online short course offers an introduction to the rich and ever-evolving genre of travel writing. You'll explore how it can transport readers to places they've visited, hope to see, or know they never will. Through reading and writing, you'll discover how travel writers bring their journeys to life and how you might begin to write about your own. From long-distance adventures by Dervla Murphy and Monisha Rajesh to local journeys by Raynor Winn and Simon Armitage, you'll see how inspiration can come from anywhere and how travel writing can open up the world, wherever you are.
You’ll read and reflect on the work of some of the greatest travel writers who were pioneers in the genre as well as contemporary travel writers who are changing the way we think and write about travel. Most importantly, you’ll learn that travel doesn’t have to be about travelling to far-flung destinations, travel can also be about travelling close to home.
Throughout the course, you’ll listen to audio interviews with travel experts and watch videos which have been created especially for the course, all of which will enhance your experience of learning about travel writing and inspire you to create your own.
Week 1 introduces you to the genre of travel writing and gives you a little history and context on how it has evolved over the centuries.
Weeks 2 and 3 introduce you to influential early travel writers such as Bruce Chatwin and Jan Morris, as well as contemporary writers like Monisha Rajesh and Andrea Lee. You’ll think about why you might want to write about travel and consider the inspirations behind journeys – journeys that are close to home such as Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path or further afield like Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia to help you find your own inspiration. You’ll also be introduced to the actor and presenter Richard E. Grant exploring Granada, Spain through the work of the poet Federico Garcia Lorca and learn what makes travel writing so distinctive as a genre of writing. In these two weeks, you’ll make a good start on writing about a journey of your own.
Weeks 4 and 5 will help you to develop that piece of writing. You’ll learn from the techniques taught in the study of creative writing, how to make your travel writing distinctive, and how to use language to connect with your reader. You’ll look at how to write about: the setting of your travel writing, the characters you meet on your journey, and how to create a point of view so that you can tell your story in your own way. You’ll look at the work of writers such as Alys Fowler, Johnny Pitts and Jini Reddy amongst others. In Week 5, you’ll start to consider how reading fiction can help you to develop techniques in travel writing and consider Robert Harris’s novel Pompeii alongside other travel writers’ accounts of Vesuvius and Pompeii.
In Week 6, you’ll bring all these elements together and look at some further examples from fiction where travel is central to the story. This will help you to develop your travel writing. You’ll hear again from the leading travel writer, Monisha Rajesh, about the practicalities of travel writing and will leave the course with some tips on where to go from here.
Knowledge and understanding
You will have some understanding of:
Cognitive skills
You will have learned:
Key skills
You will have:
This course has relevance for those interested in becoming professional writers as well as those interested in working in the literary industries.
There is no tuition on this course and all study is self-directed. However, a Study Advisor is present to facilitate discussion within the online forums.
You’ll study for around 8 hours per week for 6 weeks. In total, this course will require around 50 hours to complete.
All of this course’s study materials are online. Online materials are composed of pages of text with images, interactive activities, audio/video clips (with transcripts). Some online materials may also include links to external resources, and the Course-wide forum.
Printed materials are not provided for the course content. However, you are able to access the web pages in alternative formats (PDF, Word for screen readers, ebook) from the Downloads area on the course website and print them for your studies, if you wish. You are also able to download all course audio tracks and videos from this area. You will find further useful documents available in Word or PDF format in the Resources area of the course website.
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
There are no entry requirements for this course.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact us.
The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet, you can contact us about the support which can be given to meet your needs.
StartEndRegister byEngland fee
03 Oct 202630 Nov 202617 Sep 2026£135
06 Feb 202731 Mar 202721 Jan 2027£135
We accept American Express, Mastercard, Visa and Visa Electron.
If this course is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could ask your employer to sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees. Your sponsor just needs to complete a simple form to confirm how much they will be paying and we will invoice them.
The fee information provided here is valid for short courses starting in the 2026/27 academic year. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.
Level info