English Literature and Creative Writing

Explore your creativity in a supportive and inclusive environment where your ideas shape your learning and guide you towards your career goals.

This course offers a modern approach to a timeless subject. With us, you’ll be part of a community of writers and literary scholars, potentially shaping the future of literature and entertainment.

Contemporary curriculum: explore new and emerging writing forms such as video games, graphic novels, manga and social media writing.
Innovative approach: experiment with exciting forms, bringing your interests and ideas into your creative work. Explore escape room writing, point-and-click branching narratives, vlog-style documentaries and technology-led storytelling.
Creative freedom: our course gives you the space to share your ideas and bring out your unique writer’s voice. The course is 100 per cent coursework with no exams, and you can choose between traditional writing forms, new media, essays or portfolio-based projects.

Why you should study this course
-* Innovative curriculum:* whether you’re passionate about poetry, video games, or screenwriting, you’ll join a lively learning community to explore topics such as: how to write interesting and compelling characters; how technology has changed the way we approach writing stories; ways that filmmakers have constructed characters and places; and how writing can be more than words on a page, manifesting in escape room experiences, branching point and click narratives, and tabletop roleplaying.

• Project-based learning: actively engage in real-world, meaningful projects. Work on complex problems, create tangible solutions and develop essential skills such as critical thinking, collaboration and communication. Assessment is designed to reflect the type of work and tasks carried out by English literature and creative writing graduates, such as the production of industry-ready portfolios, video presentations, podcasts and creative work samples that showcase your expertise and real-world readiness.

• Take control: experiment with all kinds of approaches, from physical masks for poetry to live action roleplaying experiences, visual novels and playable video games. Your ideas are valued, and our course will help you push yourself to think and be different.

• Supportive learning environment: find the freedom to share your ideas in a welcoming and supportive environment. This helps you to achieve your very best so you can graduate with key transferable skills that prepare you for work within creative and other industries.

• Exciting opportunities: you'll have the chance to work on optional projects. These could include building escape rooms, engaging in discussions with key figures in the creative industries, or getting involved with issues and events in your local community.

Where our graduates work
Previous graduates of the course have gone on to work in teaching or publishing for companies such as Granta Magazine.

As the course also develops other abilities, such as thinking critically and analytically, research, collating and organising data, a number of previous students have also embarked upon careers as financial specialists, HR managers or press officers in companies such as Air Products, Tesco and Deutsche Bank.

This course includes a sandwich (placement year) option.

Course Modules

This course has a common first year

The common first year enables you to work alongside students doing similar courses to you, to widen your knowledge and exposure to other subject areas and professions. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with other students, so you can share your insights and experience which will help you to develop and learn.

If you discover an interest in a specific subject you have studied, upon successful completion of your first year, you could swap degrees with another course in your common first year (subject to meeting progression requirements).

Year One Modules:
Philosophy, Poetry and Songwriting
Stories on Film: Creative and Critical Approaches
Warped Worlds: Questioning Reality
People and Landscapes: Creating Projects

Year Two Modules:
Writing for the Media Landscape
Creating Worlds in Speculative Fiction
Picture Books for Children
Screenwriting and Film Production

Sandwich Year:
There’s no better way to find out what you love doing than trying it out for yourself, which is why a work placement2 can often be beneficial. Work placements usually occur between your second and final years of study. They’re a great way to help you explore your potential career path and gain valuable work experience, whilst developing transferable skills for the future.

Final Year Modules:
World as Stage: Reading and Writing Drama
Composing Short Story
Graphic Novels, Comics and Manga
Gaming and Interactive Narratives

We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.