Creative Writing and English

Develop your skills as a writer and your ability to critically engage with literary texts

Our BA (Hons) Creative Writing and English course allows you to learn, and then specialise in, a wide range of creative writing disciplines and critical approaches to literature.

As you develop your creative voice and find your style, you’ll develop your ability to critically engage with a broad range of literature and critical theory from the Renaissance through to the present day.

You’ll learn from our team of practising and published poets, short story writers, novelists, dramatists and screenwriters, all of whom have extensive experience of the industry.

You’ll also work with experienced English Literature academics who use the latest research and pedagogical techniques in their teaching to ensure you have access to the latest creative developments and critical debates in fiction, poetry and dramatic work.

On this course you will:

• Study the craft of writing in many genres, including short fiction, poetry, novels, screenplays, digital writing and creative non-fiction.

• Gain a critical insight into literature from a variety of contexts and time periods.

• Learn from our expert team of published writers and leading academics.

• Engage with contemporary issues in your writing such as climate change, race and sexuality.

• Build your degree around your interests.

• Meet and talk with agents and editors at our annual publishing panel.

Year One
In your first year, you will learn to tap into your own experience and engage with the wider world for creative material. You will also begin to explore the fundamental critical works of Marx, Barthes and Butler as well as studying a range of genres that include the graphic novel, fantasy, sci-fi, eco-criticism and more.

Year Two
In your second year, you will explore poetry, short fiction, life writing, screenwriting, fiction for children, fairy tales and reading and writing myth. In your literary studies you will have the opportunity to explore prose and poetry and developing genres, explore literary history from the Renaissance to the Romantics and engage with contesting texts from the 20th century.

Year Three
In your third year, you will design your own dissertation project on a topic of your choice. You will be able to select either a dissertation in creative writing or in English literature.

You will also select from numerous specialisms, in which tutors draw on their latest research and expertise. The creative modules in your final year allow you to explore your discipline and genre of choice, such as the novel, short stories and poetry. You will also explore more specific genres such as YA fiction, flash fiction, digital writing, fantasy and science fiction.

Alongside this, in your literary studies, you will have the opportunity to study psychoanalysis, fantasy literature and fairy tales, both 20th and 21st century literature, and the representations of both culture and death.

Creative writing modules are predominately assessed through portfolios of work. Your English Literature modules will be assessed through essays and presentations. The Writing Placement module will be assessed through a reflective report.

Modules are assessed at every stage of the course, allowing you to clearly see your academic progress at all stages of the course.