English Literature and Creative Writing

If you are passionate about literature and eager to enhance your writing skills, our English Literature and Creative Writing degree is perfect for you.

You will blend studying literary theory with your own creative writing, learning how to use writing to explore and challenge ideas.

Through examining diverse texts and their political, aesthetic, and cultural contexts, you will refine your work.

With trips, research projects, and hands-on opportunities to connect theory with practice, you will develop as a confident thinker and writer.

Our award-winning tutors and collaborations with local publishers will prepare you for a professional writing career, offering unique experiences within community groups and companies.

TOP REASONS TO CHOOSE THIS COURSE

• Staff are active writers – you will learn from published novelists, poets and screenwriters.

• Strong local publishing connections – we organise a programme of visiting writers and publishing professionals. Take a look at some of our prizes and partnerships.

• Scrivener talks give you the chance to speak to a professional writer about their work.

• Our focus on employability, including a placement, ensures you will graduate as an emerging writer with a strong skillset.

• Extracurricular activities such as the Performance and Community Research and Enterprise Group and the student-led Creative Writing Society.

• Alumni making a difference – graduates from our programmes include Paris Lees, Merci Roberts, Munroe Bergdorf and Tanaka Mhisi.

• Excellent student support and a warm and encouraging community.

• Weekly roundup of writing competitions and opportunities to encourage you to promote your work and consider future careers.

• Workshops and spoken word events help you find your writing voice.

• Professional feedback on any aspect of your writing from our resident Royal Literary Fund Fellow.

Year 1
Core modules
Brighton Writes
Poetry-Politics-Protest
Storying The Self
Writers on Writing
The World, the Text and the Critic
Literary Histories of Cultures and Identities

Year 2
Core modules
Stories that Transform: Reading and Writing for Change
From Postcolonial to Black British Literature
Professional Practice and Placement
Research: Special Topic

Options*
Introduction to Journalism
Genres
Travel Narratives Through Time and Space
Queer Writing
Twentieth Century Literary Experiments
Image and Text: The Language of Comics and Graphic Novels
Power and Persuasion
Comics, Cultures and Societies
Children’s Literature and Culture
Women’s Writing and Feminist Theory
Writing for Stage, Radio and Screen
Poetry and Process
Literature and Art History
Transforming Texts

Final Year
Core modules
English Literature Dissertation
Creative Dissertation
Brighton Rocks: Final Year Show

Options*
Literature and the Global Contemporary
Applied Comics: Comics in the Social World
Citizen Journalism: Theory and Practice
Conflict, Migration, Borders
Creative Writing Futures
Environment, Landscape and Nature Writing
Autoethnography
Gothic Texts and Contexts
(Re)viewing Shakespeare
Victorian Sexualities
Literature and Social Change

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.