English Literature (Creative Writing)

Are you creative with words? Do you write poetry or fiction? Do you want to develop and hone your talent as a creative writer? If so, our BA (Hons) English with Creative Writing degree might be the course just for you.

In your first year, you will be introduced to the key skills that have traditionally underpinned creating writing (such as creative practices, critical writing, narrative and characterization as well as studying the literary course.

In your second year, you will build on this knowledge basis with a set of modules that work across genres and draw on a range of competencies, as well as introducing them to the work of a creative practitioner.

In your final year, you will become more commercially aware, with employability a consistent factor. The focus therefore moves from introducing key concepts and skills to applying knowledge, know-how and career-focused ambitions through modules such as Publishing in Practice and Working in English, Film and Media.

University Centre Peterborough are very happy to announce that a bid for annual scholarships from the Malcolm Bradbury Trust has been agreed from September 2022. This funding will support a creative writing undergraduate each year, and they will undertake extra-curricular work to promote literacy and literary engagement in Peterborough. In memory of the late author, screenwriter and academic, the Malcolm Bradbury Trust is a registered charity seeking to advance and promote the literary arts through educational initiatives. The Trust aims to support and fund educational opportunities for new writers and creatives, meanwhile expanding the reach of their support to a diverse cohort of students and young people across the UK. For further information, please visit our website ww.ucp.ac.uk

The courses at University Centre Peterborough are studied in smaller class sizes compared with other universities, a typical class size is under 20 students.

The course benefits from annual literary festival and the creative writing society, which allows students to engage with contemporary writers and poets. This aids students to develop both their writing style and make valuable industry contacts.

Each year, there are many students who complete the BA (Hons) English Literature course who go on to either secure a teaching placement locally or study a variety of postgraduate courses.

Just some of the future careers for graduates after completing the course include:

Teaching
Copy Writing
Editing and Proofing
LibrarianshipTypesetting
Creative and Professional Writing
Writing for the Games Industry
Journalism / Publishing

YEAR 1 (LEVEL 4)
Writing Matters: Academic and Professional Skills (15 credits)
Introduction to Creative Writing 1: Writing Prose (15 credits)
Dead Heroes Society: Tragedy (15 credits)
Contexts and Canons: Murakami to Blake (15 credits)
Approaching Criticism (15 credits)
Contexts and Canons: Equiano to Chaucer (15 credits)
Introduction to Creative Writing 2: Writing Poetry (15 credits)
20th Century Practitioners (15 credits)

YEAR 2 (LEVEL 5)
Shortcuts: Writing Short Fiction (15 credits)
Writing WW1: Memory and Forgetting (15 credits)
The Image: Exploring Visual Literacy in Media, Culture and Literature (15 credits)
Stranger on the Shore: Placing the Postcolonial (15 credits)
Preparing for Employment: Research and Employability (15 credits)
Shakespeare Unstuck (15 credits)
Writing for Newspapers and Magazines (15 credits)
Vampires, Virgins and Villains: Reading the Gothic (15 credits).

YEAR 3 (LEVEL 6)
Undergraduate Major Project (30 credits)
Decade: The Literature of the 1950s (15 credits)
Publishing in Practice (15 credits)
Adaptations and Afterlives (15 credits)
Working in English, Film and Media (15 credits)
Neverland to Wonderland: Explorations in Children’s Literature (15 credits)
Reading the Now: Contemporary Literature (15 credits)

YEAR 1 (LEVEL 4)
80% Coursework
20% Written Exams

YEAR 2 (LEVEL 5)
80% Coursework
20% Written Exams

YEAR 3 (LEVEL 6)
70% Coursework
20% Written Exams
10% Placement

Your final degree classification will be based on the average marks across all modules at Level 6 and Level 5 at a ratio of 2:1 respectively