english language and creative writing degree

English (Creative Writing), BA

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At a Glance: program details

• Location: Tempe campus
• Additional Program Fee: No
• Second Language Requirement: No

• Initial Math Course: MAT 142 - College Mathematics

Required Courses (Major Map)

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Program Description

The BA in English with a concentration in creative writing focuses on the study and practice of the literary arts, with courses in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction.

Students gain practical experience through writing workshops and internship opportunities.

The undergraduate program features an outstanding faculty whose many books have received major national and international recognition.

In addition to the guidelines in the Concurrent Program Options section below, students interested in pursuing concurrent or second baccalaureate degrees in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are advised to visit The College's website for more information and requirements.

Admission to the Creative Writing Concentration (Fiction & Poetry)

Portfolio submission period opens: february 20, 2023, portfolios due: march 17, 2023 by 5:00pm, submit here: spring 2023 creative writing concentration  .

Note: You need to be logged into your ASU Gmail account to connect to the portfolio submission form.  

About the Creative Writing Concentration

The Creative Writing Program encourages all interested students, regardless of their field of study, to join our community of writers through beginning and intermediate workshops in fiction and poetry (ENG 287/ENG 288 , ENG 387/ENG 388), diverse special topics courses (ENG 394/ENG 494), and various, exciting writing events held on campus. 

Interested students*, who have already taken beginning and intermediate workshops, and are committed to continuing their study of Creative Writing, have an opportunity to develop their skills in supportive, highly focused workshops through the Creative Writing Concentration. Instruction in the tradition(s) to which concentration students can aspire and uphold, and from which they may draw inspiration, will be provided by the Creative Writing Program's nationally recognized faculty of writers.

Please note that acceptance into the Creative Writing Concentration is restricted.   Students must submit a portfolio for review and be offered a seat in the advanced workshops. (Please see the "Portfolio Review Guidelines" below.) 

*Students interested in pursuing both fiction and poetry at the 400-level, must check with their academic advisor to ensure that the necessary courses (ENG 487, ENG 488, ENG 498: Fiction, ENG 498: Poetry) will fit their degree plan. Students must submit two portfolios--one in fiction, one in poetry--to be considered for admittance into advanced coursework in both areas. 

Students pursuing the Creative Writing Concentration must either select as their major the bachelor's in English with a concentration in creative writing upon being admitted to ASU or, after entering the university, meet with an English advisor to change to this major and concentration.  Non English-majors will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

• To complete the concentration, English majors who have already declared themselves in the creative writing concentration must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher in their major.
• Concentration students must complete the two advanced courses in their genre (ENG 487 and ENG 498 in poetry, or ENG 488 and ENG 498 in fiction). Note that enrollment into these courses is restricted. Spaces are limited. Students must submit a portfolio and be selected to move forward.  (See the "Portfolio Review Guidelines" below.)
• Transfer students must seek advisement as to whether they will be able to successfully fulfill the creative writing concentration requirements.
• PLEASE NOTE :  Students admitted to begin 400-level coursework through the Fall 2020 Portfolio Review will start their coursework in Spring 2021. ENG 488 (fiction) will be taken in the Spring semester. The capstone course, ENG 498, will be taken in the Fall 2021 semester. ENG 487/488 and ENG 498 may not be taken simultaneously. 
• The next portfolio review for fiction will be offered in Fall 2022. The next portfolio review for fiction and poetry will be offered in Spring 2023.
• Students are only allowed to apply for the creative writing concentration twice during their time at ASU.

Portfolio Submission: How to Apply

Submit your completed portfolio online via the link below. Your portfolio should include:

1.     COVER SHEET (Available Online)

2.     CREATIVE WRITING SAMPLE

     a.      Poetry Sample: 5 poems

     b.      Fiction Sample: 1 piece of fiction of at least 5 double-spaced pages and not longer than 10 double-spaced pages

3.     PERSONAL STATEMENT (2 double spaced pages or 500 words)

     a.    Discuss your interest in the relevant genre (poetry or fiction)

     b.     What do you hope to gain from the creative writing concentration

4.     CRAFT ESSAY (2 double spaced pages or 500 words)

     a.     Submit an essay on a single poem or short story focusing an element(s) of craft you learned from the piece, how that craft element(s) works within the poem/story, and  why this aspect of craft is pertinent to your own writing

     b.     Please provide textual examples from the creative piece in your essay

5 .      SUBMIT: SPRING 2023 CREATIVE WRITING CONCENTRATION

        NOTE: You need to be logged into your ASU Gmail account to connect to the portfolio submission form. 

Further Information  

To receive further information about the bachelor's in English with a concentration in creative writing, make an appointment to speak with English undergraduate advisor at 480-965-3168. You may also contact Creative Writing Program Manager, Justin Petropoulos ( [email protected] ), RBH 152.

Portfolio Review Guidelines

Admission Requirements

All students are required to meet general university admission requirements.

Transfer Options

ASU is committed to helping students thrive by offering tools that allow personalization of the transfer path to ASU. Students may use the Transfer Map search to outline a list of recommended courses to take prior to transfer.

Change of Major Requirements

A current ASU student has no additional requirements for changing majors.

Students should refer to https://changingmajors.asu.edu for information about how to change a major to this program.

Flexible Degree Options

Accelerated program options.

This program allows students to obtain both a bachelor's and master's degree in as little as five years. It is offered as an accelerated bachelor's and master's degree with:

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Acceptance to the graduate program requires a separate application. During their junior year, eligible students will be advised by their academic departments to apply.

Next Steps to attend ASU

Learn about our programs, apply to a program, visit our campus, affording college, tuition calculator, scholarships, financial aid, career outlook.

Degree programs in English prepare students for graduate studies in a number of programs, including English, creative writing, education, law and business. They also lead to a variety of careers in diverse fields. Employers seek those with strong writing, communication and critical thinking skills. Some of the most common professions for English majors are in the fields of:

• nonprofit service

Graduates often find roles where they spend time:

• developing web content
• managing public relations
• writing professional and technical content

Example Careers

Students who complete this degree program may be prepared for the following careers. Advanced degrees or certifications may be required for academic or clinical positions. Career examples include but are not limited to:

Writers and Authors

• Growth: 3.7%
• Median Salary*: 73150
• Growth: -4%
• Median Salary*: 73080

English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary

• Growth: 1.2%
• Median Salary*: 74280

Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers

Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education.

• Median Salary*: 62360

Public Relations Specialists

• Growth: 6.1%
• Median Salary*: 67440

Search Marketing Strategists

• Growth: 13.4%
• Median Salary*: 68230

Technical Writers

• Growth: 6.9%
• Median Salary*: 79960

* Data obtained from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) under sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA).

Global Opportunities

Global experience.

Studying abroad expands students' perspectives by exposing them to new and distinct cultures, communities and people. Students can explore the English language at a deeper level through an extended lens of dialects, literature and terminology in one of more than 300 study abroad programs.

Students can enhance their resumes with the educational experience and heightened cultural competency, communication and critical thinking skills they acquire through study abroad programs.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recommends these study abroad programs for students majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing .

Program Contact Information

If you have questions related to admission, please click here to request information and an admission specialist will reach out to you directly. For questions regarding faculty or courses, please use the contact information below.

• [email protected]
• 480/965-3168

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Bachelor of Arts in English, Creative Writing Concentration

On this page:

• Why Choose Creative Writing Concentration in English?

Real-World Experience

Success stories, academics and curriculum, why choose creative writing concentration in english .

The Creative Writing concentration in English offers students a full series of introductory and advanced creative writing courses, in addition to practical guidance on publication. Building on a strong basis in literature and language studies, students have the opportunity to develop their skills in either fiction writing or poetry writing as well as to take elective coursework in playwriting and creative non-fiction. The majority of courses are intensive workshops with a focus on peer and faculty comments, the study of craft, and the reading of contemporary and classic literature. The concentration culminates in a capstone course and the completion of an extended creative project. Graduates of our program include novelists Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni and Alexandria Constantinova Szeman and poet Rachel Danielle Peterson. The English Department Visiting Writers Series brings nationally known poets and writers to campus for readings and workshops. The English Club, an organization open to all students, hosts open mikes and coffee-house style readings each year.

View the English program profile for sample occupations, average salary, and employment projections. 

Some recent real-world projects for English Department students include:

• A grant-funded pilot episode of a children’s television show to air on PBS ThinkTV.
• A series of videos focused on veteran experiences.
• Writing internship opportunities exist with local organizations. Past organizations have included  The Antioch Review, Heavy Feather Review,  Antioch Writers’ Workshop, The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, Dayton Visual Arts Center, and elsewhere.
• The Vibrant Visiting Writers’ Series open to the public. Past writers have included Xhenet Aliu, Philip Metres, Kaveh Akbar, Paige Lewis, Amina Gautier, and others.

View the Bachelor of Arts in English program information and degree requirements in the Academic Catalog.

Graduation Planning Strategy (Four Year Plan) (PDF)

Any student eligible for admission to the College of Liberal Arts is eligible for admission to the Creative Writing, Literature, Professional Writing, and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages concentrations in English. Non-native speakers of English seeking admission to any undergraduate major program in English must meet one of the following minimum language proficiency requirements:

• PEARSON PTE: 58, or
• Students who show proof of successful completion of an Intensive English Program from an accredited Institution or program accepted by international admissions are exempt from the requirement to take an approved English Proficiency exam.

Review the admission requirements and complete the admission application . Identify whether you will be majoring in English.

If you are a current student and wish to change majors, go to the WINGS Express major/minor change request form and change your major. If you are an undecided/exploratory student, talk to your advisor about majoring in English.

Take the Next Step

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English language and literature, ba.

• New York City

Writing Success Starts Here

Whether your interest lies in journalism, creative writing, literature, linguistics, publishing, teaching, or law, the BA in English Language and Literature at Pace University offers three concentrations and several combined degree options to develop your specific interests. Choose a concentration in creative writing, literature, or linguistics and consider adding a double major in related fields. This program will open doors in virtually any field, such as journalism, publishing, communications, business, the arts, law, and education.

Make Main Character Moves

• Beyond the classroom, you will have the opportunity to learn from prominent poets and authors who visit campus, publish your own work in Aphros, our literary magazine, and gain hands-on experience working on The Pace Press, our undergraduate student newspaper.
• You will be guided by our outstanding faculty of authors, editors, and world-renowned scholars with diverse research interests and expertise.
• You will develop the in-demand skills you need for success in today’s competitive job market: top-notch writing, insightful critical analysis, and clear, organized thinking.

Take Courses Like…

Courses in this major are wide-ranging and will challenge your intellect. Our curriculum is unique and innovative in how it combines creative and analytic skills and traditions. Our fun and rigorous coursework prepares you to collaborate and think creatively in whatever you go on to do.

• ENG 316 Writing Comics and Graphic Novels
• LIT 375 The Black Arts Movement
• ENG 217 Language, Linguistics, and Discrimination

“Be sure to consider one of our accelerated programs, all of which give you the opportunity to earn a BA and a graduate degree in fewer years than doing each program separately.”

• English Language and Literature, BA/MS in Publishing (5 years)
• English Language and Literature, BA/MST in Adolescent Education (5 years)
• English Language and Literature, BA/JD in Law (6 years)

Add Opportunities And Experiences

As an English major, you’ll join a rich and vibrant community of writers, scholars, and activists. Together with faculty, you might attend plays and performances, learn from visiting luminary writers and poets such as Wayne Koestenbaum, Rumaan Alam, and Patricia Spears Jones, present your creative work at open-mic nights, or help edit and publish our longstanding literary journal, Aphros . You might go on field trips with faculty to archives like the Interference Archive—a trove of materials related to social and political activism—or learn how to write and publish your own ‘zine or graphic novel. Or you might work closely with faculty as a part of the university’s Undergraduate Research Programs on topics as diverse as “The Origins of Black Theatre in Downtown NYC” or “Linguistic Features in Contemporary Women’s Language.” Every spring, the department awards up to $15,000 to the best student writing produced by our majors and minors in multiple genres. And, our courses are all capped at 15, 20, or 25 students, so you get a real chance to know one another and your faculty. We look forward to having you join our community!

"As an English major, I was able to combine the opportunities of the big, bustling city with a more intimate classroom setting”—Jordan Little ’18, Elementary School Art Teacher

Choose Your Career

What are you going to do with a degree in English? The sky’s the limit! English majors have the opportunity to combine a rigorous and rewarding academic experience with all New York City has to offer to burgeoning creative professionals. Recent English majors have landed prestigious internships with:

• The National Book Foundation
• Penguin Random House
• Macmillan-St. Martin’s Press
• David Black Literary Agency
• The PEN America Foundation

in areas such as:

• Social Media
• Fundraising
• Copywriting
• Digital Content Management
• … and more.

For three years running, English majors have won multiple spots in Pace University’s prestigious Storytelling Fellowship for Equity and Inclusion program, funded by the Mellon Foundation.

Career Options

Our recent alumni are currently employed at:

• Bantam Books
• Simon and Schuster
• Nancy Yost Agency
• The Morgan Library
• Weill-Cornell

While other recent graduates have gone on to earn Master’s degrees and PhDs from schools such as Northwestern University, The New School, Georgetown University, Fordham University, UCLA, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Virginia.

• English majors earn comparable median salaries to STEM majors (Source: HumanitiesWorks.org)
• English majors have a lower probability of being underemployed than business majors (Source: HumanitiesWorks.org)
• English majors have among the highest average scores on the GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, and GRE (Source: HumanitiesWorks.org)
• Hunting for Soft Skills, Companies Scoop Up English Majors ” Wall Street Journal

Online English – Creative Writing, BA

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Program at a Glance

• In State Tuition
• Out of State Tuition

Learn more about the cost to attend UCF.

Inspire and engage others through your creative writing skills.

You’re full of bold ideas, innovative concepts and compelling thoughts. In studying the craft of creative writing you are taking your place beside those who use language, literature and writing to shape our world.

Through UCF Online’s creative writing courses, you’ll become an expert communicator with a deep appreciation of fiction, poetry and non-fiction prose. This program will guide you through an understanding of rhetoric, communication and literary structure within a diverse array of texts. You’ll also stretch your imagination as you hone your own craft, learning how to construct poignant arguments, think critically and develop original creative content for fiction and nonfiction genres.

Written communication is one of the most enduring, flexible and sought-after skills in today’s employment landscape. With your online creative writing degree you’ll be poised for a career in a variety of fields, including law, editing and publishing, teaching, consulting and more. Get started today and earn your BA in Creative Writing.

Undergraduate Application Deadlines

Ready to get started, course overview, fiction writing workshop.

An intermediate level fiction writing workshop for English majors; group analysis and criticism; close reading of contemporary fiction and fiction theory.

Advanced Poetry Writing Workshop

Intensive writing practice in poetry. Peer critique and group discussion of original manuscripts.

History of Prose Style

Close study of style and craft in exemplary works of fiction and creative nonfiction from various time periods.

Skills You'll Learn

• Learn how to self-edit and provide constructive feedback to others, helping you refine your writing and improve your overall craftsmanship.
• Generate unique ideas, explore unconventional perspectives, and approach problems from various angles.
• Cultivate your ability to gather relevant data, evaluate sources and critically assess different perspectives, which can be applied to various professional settings.

Career Projections

Annual Job Openings

Job Growth Between 2019 - 2029

Source: Lightcast™ . 2023

Career Opportunities

• technical writer

Related Online Programs

• Writing and Rhetoric, BA
• Career and Technical Education, BS
• English - Technical Communication, BA

Creative Writing and Literature Master’s Degree Program

Online Courses

11 out of 12 total courses

On-Campus Experience

One 1- or 3-week residency in summer

$3,220 per course

Unlock your creative potential and hone your unique voice.

Build a strong foundation in literary criticism and writing across multiple genres — including fiction, nonfiction, and drama — in our live online writing and literature program with an in-person writers’ residency at Harvard.

Program Overview

Through the master’s degree in creative writing and literature, you’ll hone your skills as a storyteller — crafting publishable original scripts, novels, and stories.

In small, workshop-style classes, you’ll master key elements of narrative craft, including characterization, story and plot structure, point of view, dialogue, and description. And you’ll learn to approach literary works as both a writer and scholar by developing skills in critical analysis.

Program Benefits

Instructors who are published authors of drama, fiction, and nonfiction

A community of writers who support your growth in live online classes

Writer's residency with agent & editor networking opportunities

Personalized academic and career advising

Thesis or capstone options that lead to publishable creative work

Harvard Alumni Association membership upon graduation

Customizable Course Curriculum

As you work through the program’s courses, you’ll enhance your creative writing skills and knowledge of literary concepts and strategies. You’ll practice the art of revision to hone your voice as a writer in courses like Writing the Short Personal Essay and Writing Flash Fiction.

Within the creative writing and literature program, you will choose between a thesis or capstone track. You’ll also experience the convenience of online learning and the immersive benefits of learning in person.

11 Online Courses

• Primarily synchronous
• Fall, spring, January, and summer options

Writers’ Residency

A 1- or 3-week summer master class taught by a notable instructor, followed by an agents-and-editors weekend

Thesis or Capstone Track

• Thesis: features a 9-month independent creative project with a faculty advisor
• Capstone: includes crafting a fiction or nonfiction manuscript in a classroom community

The path to your degree begins before you apply to the program.

First, you’ll register for and complete 2 required courses, earning at least a B in each. These foundational courses are investments in your studies and count toward your degree, helping ensure success in the program.

Getting Started

We invite you to explore degree requirements, confirm your initial eligibility, and learn more about our unique “earn your way in” admissions process.

A Faculty of Creative Writing Experts

Studying at Harvard Extension School means learning from the world’s best. Our instructors are renowned academics in literary analysis, storytelling, manuscript writing, and more. They bring a genuine passion for teaching, with students giving our faculty an average rating of 4.7 out of 5.

Bryan Delaney

Playwright and Screenwriter

Talaya Adrienne Delaney

Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University

Elisabeth Sharp McKetta

Our community at a glance.

80% of our creative writing and literature students are enrolled in our master’s degree program for either personal enrichment or to make a career change. Most (74%) are employed full time while pursuing their degree and work across a variety of industries.

Download: Creative Writing & Literature Master's Degree Fact Sheet

Average Age

Course Taken Each Semester

Work Full Time

Would Recommend the Program

Professional Experience in the Field

Pursued for Personal Enrichment

Career Opportunities & Alumni Outcomes

Graduates of our Creative Writing and Literature Master’s Program have writing, research, and communication jobs in the fields of publishing, advertising/marketing, fundraising, secondary and higher education, and more.

Some alumni continue their educational journeys and pursue further studies in other nationally ranked degree programs, including those at Boston University, Brandeis University, University of Pennsylvania, and Cambridge University.

Our alumni hold titles as:

• Marketing Manager
• Director of Publishing
• Senior Research Writer

Our alumni work at a variety of leading organizations, including:

• Little, Brown & Company
• New York University (NYU)
• Bentley Publishers

Career Advising and Mentorship

Whatever your career goals, we’re here to support you. Harvard’s Mignone Center for Career Success offers career advising, employment opportunities, Harvard alumni mentor connections, and career fairs like the annual on-campus Harvard Humanities, Media, Marketing, and Creative Careers Expo.

Your Harvard University Degree

Upon successful completion of the required curriculum, you will earn the Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) in Extension Studies, Field: Creative Writing and Literature.

Expand Your Connections: the Harvard Alumni Network

As a graduate, you’ll become a member of the worldwide Harvard Alumni Association (400,000+ members) and Harvard Extension Alumni Association (29,000+ members).

Harvard is closer than one might think. You can be anywhere and still be part of this world.

Tuition & Financial Aid

Affordability is core to our mission. When compared to our continuing education peers, it’s a fraction of the cost.

After admission, you may qualify for financial aid . Typically, eligible students receive grant funds to cover a portion of tuition costs each term, in addition to federal financial aid options.

What can you do with a master’s degree in creative writing and literature?

A master’s degree in creative writing and literature prepares you for a variety of career paths in writing, literature, and communication — it’s up to you to decide where your interests will take you.

You could become a professional writer, editor, literary agent, marketing copywriter, or communications specialist.

You could also go the academic route and bring your knowledge to the classroom to teach creative writing or literature courses.

Is a degree in creative writing and literature worth it?

The value you find in our Creative Writing and Literature Master’s Degree Program will depend on your unique goals, interests, and circumstances.

The curriculum provides a range of courses that allow you to graduate with knowledge and skills transferable to various industries and careers.

How long does completing the creative writing and literature graduate program take?

Program length is ordinarily anywhere between 2 and 5 years. It depends on your preferred pace and the number of courses you want to take each semester.

For an accelerated journey, we offer year round study, where you can take courses in fall, January, spring, and summer.

While we don’t require you to register for a certain number of courses each semester, you cannot take longer than 5 years to complete the degree.

What skills do you need prior to applying for the creative writing and literature degree program?

Harvard Extension School does not require any specific skills prior to applying, but in general, it’s helpful to have solid reading, writing, communication, and critical thinking skills if you are considering a creative writing and literature master’s degree.

Initial eligibility requirements can be found on our creative writing and literature master’s degree requirements page .

Harvard Division of Continuing Education

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

Book an open day

Open days are the perfect opportunity for you to explore our vibrant campuses, get a taste of your course(s) of interest and hear first hand from our staff and current students about life as a student at Herts.

Our next open day is Saturday 27 April 2024 from 09:30 - 15:00 .

You will receive complimentary travel across the UNO bus network on the open day dates (whether you undertake your whole journey via the Uno network or just use it to access our campuses from Hatfield or St Albans train stations). Once you've registered, keep an eye on your emails for your free pass!

Get info and updates

Ba (hons) english language and creative writing, book your virtual open day, key information, typical offer:, fees: see below, ucas code: q1w1, institute code: h36, study abroad option, work placement option.

The University of Hertfordshire is committed to welcoming students with a wide range of qualifications and levels of experience. The entry requirements listed on the course pages provide a guide to the minimum level of qualifications needed to study each course. However, we have a flexible approach to admissions and each application will be considered on an individual basis.

Clearing entry requirements

We’re committed to welcoming students with a wide range of qualifications and levels of experience. Over Clearing, we’ll be taking a flexible approach so if you don’t have the advertised grades, please submit a clearing application via our online application form or by calling our Clearing hotline on 0300 303 6300 , and we’ll review and consider your application on an individual basis.

Additional requirements

GCSE : Grade 4/C in English Language and 4/D Mathematics

Access course tariff: An overall merit profile in 45 credits at Level 3.

All students from non-majority English speaking countries require proof of English language proficiency, equivalent to an overall IELTS score of 6.5 with a minimum of 5.5 in each band.

If you do not have the required IELTS or equivalent for direct entry on to your degree programme, our  Pre-sessional English and International Foundation courses can help you to achieve this level.

For more details on the University of Hertfordshire's entry requirements, please visit our  Undergraduate Entry Requirements page.

Find out more about  International Entry Requirements .

GCSE : Grade 4/C in English Language and Mathematics.

All students from non-majority English speaking countries require proof of English language proficiency, equivalent to an overall IELTS score of 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each band.

Exclusive content to help you through Clearing

• Tips and info sent straight to your inbox
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• Subject campus tour
• 1-on-1 call with advisor
• Downloadable university starter kit
• Opportunity to have your first year society membership fee paid upon enrolment

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• Information on your favourite courses
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Why choose this course?

• no. 13 in the UK for English (2023 Guardian League Table)
• Be taught by award-winning poets, fiction and non-fiction writers
• Optional modules in forensic and clinical linguistics

Do you have a story to tell, or have you always wanted to be a writer? Perhaps you want to learn how to be a critical reader or gain a greater understanding of the craft or writing? Through the BA English Language and Creative Writing, you’ll gain a better understanding about the English Language, as well as the process of writing so that you can find your voice, whether as linguist, a poet, playwright, or novelist.

In English Language you’ll learn all about the building blocks of language. Where does it come from? Why is Worcester spelt one way, but pronounced so differently? You’ll also look into the scientific study of everything to do with language. We offer a stimulating and supportive environment in which you can explore your ideas and understand how to use language effectively. Our English Language lecturers are also published researchers who work in different areas of applied linguistics. Our creative writing modules are taught by lecturers who are themselves award-winning practitioners and who bridge the gap between creative and academic approaches to literature. They include our poetry lecturer Wayne Holloway-Smith, winner of the Poetry Society’s Geoffrey Dearmer Prize and Seamus Heaney Prize nominee. 

What's the course about?

In your  first year , you’ll explore the building blocks of language. You’ll learn the basics of phonetics, which is the study of speech sounds, grammar and you’ll work on your academic writing skills. For Creative Writing, you’ll learn how to become a writer, looking at building words in fiction genres and writing for the screen. There are a few optional modules for you to choose too, including language and mind and language in the media. 

In your  second year , you’ll continue looking at grammatical structures and phonetics. All other modules are optional. You’ll choose from a range of modules, from vocabulary to language in society. You can choose to learn how to write plays, learn the art of the poem and look at literature. You’ll even have the option to study a module on English language teaching to speakers of other languages.  

Work placement/study abroad option:  Between your second and final year, you’ll have the option to study abroad or do a work placement for up to a year. Not only will this give you an amazing experience to talk about but will also give your CV a boost. If you’d rather go straight to your final year, that’s absolutely fine too. 

In your  third year , you can undertake a Creative Writing project in either poetry or prose. This is the culmination of three years of writing studies. You can choose to do an English Language project as well, where you’ll independently research an area of linguistics of your choice. You’ll take a two hour weekly short story writing workshop, where you produce your own writing and discuss this with your course mates. Other modules include clinical linguistics, child language and meaning and context.

For a complete overview of each module, see the ‘What will I study?’ section below.

Your main campus is College Lane

This is where the creative arts, science and health-related subjects are based. This means you’ll share the campus with future nurses, scientists, artists and more. You can use the common rooms to relax with friends, work out in the 24-hour gym or have a drink in our on-campus pub or cafes. We also have restaurants for you to eat in or grab something on the go. Our Learning Resources Centres are open 24/7, which means you can study whenever suits you best. Want to pop over to the other campus? You can take the free shuttle bus or walk there in just 15 minutes.

What will I study?

Degree programmes are structured into levels, 4, 5 and 6.  These correspond to your first, second and third/final year of study.  Below you can see what modules you’ll be studying in each.

An opportunity for an amazing experience, which will help make you stand out from the crowd. With more and more companies working internationally, experience of living in another country can make a great impression on future employers.  

This course offers you the opportunity to enhance your study and CV with a sandwich year abroad. The University has partnerships with over 150 universities around the world, including the USA, Canada, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America and closer to home in Europe.  

If you study abroad between your second and third year of study, you’ll pay no tuition fee to the partner university and no tuition fee to us either. We’ll ask you to make your decision in your second year, so there is plenty of time to think about it. 

Find out more about Study abroad opportunities  

Please note Erasmus+ funding is only available until May 2023. For students starting their course in September 2022 and wishing to study abroad in 2023-24 or 2024-25, please refer to the Turing Scheme .

Graduate with invaluable work experience alongside your degree and stand out from the crowd.  

This course offers you the opportunity to enhance your study and CV with a work placement sandwich year. It’s a chance to explore career possibilities, make valuable contacts and gain sought after professional skills.  

Our dedicated Careers and Employment team are here to help guide you through the process.

If you take up a work placement between your second and third year of study, at the University of Hertfordshire you’ll pay no tuition fee for this year. We’ll ask you to make your decision in your second year, so there is plenty of time to think about it. 

Find out more about work placements  

You’ll get a personal tutor to guide you through your course, all the way to graduation.

You might also want or need extra support during your time with us. Rest assured, no matter what you study, we’ve got you covered. For help with study skills, including referencing, essay writing and presentations, you’ll have access to our academic support services. You can attend workshops, 1-to-1 sessions, and online tutorials. Both our LRCs (Learning Resources Centres) run drop-in study skills sessions. And the best thing is, it’s all free.

Alumni Stories

Meet alex olney who has applied his skills in communication to the gaming industry. he is currently a senior video producer at nintendo life..

University experience

While not his first choice of university, Alex is grateful that he applied to the University of Hertfordshire through Clearing as whilst at the University he discovered and explored his passion for everything linguistic. This passion has had a profound impact on his life since graduating.

He says, ‘Studying a language gave me confidence and a deeper understanding of human and non-human communication and has allowed me to create a distinct idiolect that identifies me as a creator and, more importantly, entertains tens of thousands of people every day.’

He credits his success to the support he received from his lecturers who encouraged him throughout his studies: ‘The lecturers were not only well informed about the subject matter but had a genuine passion for language.’ He states that they pushed him to explore languages so much so that ‘it became a driving force in my everyday life.’

Alex also believes that the transferable skills he learnt while at the University have helped him throughout his professional life including time management. He states that he learnt effective time management skills to ensure that he never leaves projects and deadlines to the last minute and plans out in advance what is required.

Alex really enjoys his current role at Nintendo Life as he likes the hands on nature of producing content but would eventually like to manage and become a head of the video editing department.

Eleanor Pilcher

Meet Eleanor Pilcher who since graduating in 2016 has taken the publishing industry by storm. Eleanor currently works as a Marketing Manager at Avon, HarperCollins Publisher.

University experience and employability

Eleanor is a keen writer with great creative ambitions. During her degree she undertook a six-month internship at a literary agency in her final academic year. In 2016, shortly after her studies, Eleanor landed a placement at Penguin before getting a job in publishing recruitment. After developing her skills within the industry and amassing and impressive amount of knowledge and experience, Eleanor began her current role at HarperCollins Publishers.

Eleanor's degree encompassed a broad spectrum of critical, analytical and evaluative skills and helped shape her as a writer. Throughout her studies she had been writing a novel, which she submitted to literary agencies after being encouraged by her tutor to do so. It was Eleanor's passion for writing that uncovered her interest in working for a literary agency. Due to the fantastic lecturers on her course and the invaluable industry networks available to students, Eleanor managed to secure impressive opportunities in her chosen industry that have informed her career.

Sher recognises the impact the University has had on getting her to where she is today. 'For me the advice and feedback I received on both my History essays and Creative Writing finals was incredibly useful to my academic and professional development. I learnt to take criticism and to harness it and also write more because of it.'

Ambitions for the future

Eleanor has established herself in her chosen industry yet still has ambition to continue pursuing new goals. On her hopes for the future, she says: 'I hope to run a marketing department within a publishing company, possibly the one I'm at now. I hope to publish a novel and continue my freelance writing and public speaking on the side.'

• View our Alumni profiles Alex Olney Eleanor Pilcher

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*Tuition fees are charged annually. The fees quoted above are for the specified year(s) only. Fees may be higher in future years, for both new and continuing students. Please see the University’s Fees and Finance Policy (and in particular the section headed “When tuition fees change”), for further information about when and by how much the University may increase its fees for future years.

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Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing – English

Transfer credits, next start date, explore the fundamentals of creative writing and english to help you take a step forward in your career.

Do you have a passion for storytelling and are looking to develop your writing skills? Do you want to ensure you are as prepared as possible for your future career? Liberty University’s 100% online Bachelor of Science (BS) in Creative Writing – English can give you a fundamental knowledge of the English language and practical skills that can make a difference in your career outlook.

Various types of creative works are covered in your classes, which can help mold you into a more well-rounded author. If you are interested in developing a deep understanding of the English language and how it can be used to communicate through stories, Liberty University’s Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing – English may be the right fit for you.

Why Choose Liberty’s Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing with a Concentration in English?

At Liberty, we seek to ensure our students receive the best education possible – regardless of subject area. Our professors have real-world experience and are specially equipped to help you develop the skills needed to distinguish yourself as an author.

Our mission here at Liberty University is to Train Champions for Christ . We teach all our courses from a Christian worldview. This gives our BS in Creative Writing – English a unique perspective on how communication is used in many media forms.

Because our degree is 100% online, you can take classes while maintaining your current commitments – both personal and professional. We are here to come alongside you and help you succeed without putting your life on hold. Partner with us, and we can work together to prepare you for an exciting career in creative writing.

What Will You Learn in Our Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing – English Degree?

Liberty University’s 100% online Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing with a concentration in English contains courses designed to teach you marketable writing skills in a wide variety of genres, including poetry, novellas, memoirs, theater, and film. Other courses will cover editing for publishing, methods and materials of research, print and digital publishing, writing for cultural engagement, and a creative writing workshop.

You also can take several elective English and/or writing courses as part of your specialization. Some of the topics you could study include American literature, English literature, world literature, inspirational writing, grant writing, and fashion writing. This gives you the unique opportunity to tailor your degree to your interests and prepare specifically for your desired future career.

Featured Courses

• WRIT 201 – Introduction to Creative Writing
• WRIT 303 – Writing Poetry
• WRIT 304 – Novellas
• WRIT 400 – Editing for Publishing

Highlights of Our Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing – English Degree

• We are recognized by multiple institutions for our academic quality, affordability, and accessibility . Our commitment to excellence also helped us rank in the top 10% of Niche.com’s best online schools in America . Earning your online degree from a nonprofit university with this kind of recognition can help set you apart from others in your field.
• Your success is our success, which is why we are committed to providing quality academics at an affordable tuition rate. While other colleges are increasing their tuition, we have frozen tuition rates for the majority of our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs for the past 9 years — and counting.
• To continue our mission of providing affordable education,  electronic textbooks are provided for all undergraduate courses at no cost to you. As a full-time student, this could save you an estimated $800-2,000 per year on textbooks!
• You can complete this online creative writing degree in as little as 3.5 years!
• You can mix and match several English and writing electives to make your degree tailored to your interests and goals.
• Liberty University holds institutional accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges ( SACSCOC ).

Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing – English Degree Information

• This program falls under the College of Arts and Sciences .
• Download and review the Degree Completion Plan .
• View our Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Course Guides (login required).

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Liberty University is dedicated to providing world-class educational experiences to military students from all over the globe. Whether you are a current service member, discharged or retired from service, or the spouse of a service member or veteran, we are here to support you every step of the journey.

As a thank-you for your dedication and service to our country, Liberty is honored to serve and support you in your pursuit of online education by offering the following benefits:

• Tuition discounts – $250 per credit hour for undergraduate courses
• Additional discount for veterans who serve in a civilian capacity as a First Responder (less than $565 per course)
• 8-week courses, 8 different start dates each year, and no set login times (may exclude certain courses such as practicums, internships, or field experiences)
• Potential college credit for military training

Potential Career Opportunities for Bachelor of Science in Creative Writing – English Graduates

Admission requirements for undergraduate online degrees.

Applicants must have a 2.0 or above cumulative GPA for admission in good standing. Please visit our  admission requirements page  for more detailed admissions-related information. 

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*There is no upfront application fee; however, a deferred $50 application fee will be assessed during Financial Check-In. This fee is waived for qualifying service members, veterans, and military spouses – documentation verifying military status is required.

**An official transcript is needed within 60 days of acceptance or before non-attendance drops for the first set of matriculated classes, whichever comes first.

*Some restrictions may occur for this promotion to apply. This promotion also excludes active faculty and staff, military, Non-Degree Seeking, DGIA, Continuing Education, WSB, and Certificates.

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BA (Hons) English with Creative Writing

UK and international students need to apply through UCAS.  Except those inside the Crimea Region/Sevastopol, the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) / Luhansk People's Republic (LNR), Cuba, Iran, North Korea or Syria who need to use our  alternative application form.

Course information

Entry requirements.

A-level: BBB BTEC: DDM IB: 33 points overall with Three HL subjects at 655

3 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time

English and Creative Writing

Course overview

Combine the study of literature with the practice of creative writing. You’ll graduate with the ability to be informed and curious about literature, and with the imagination to turn that curiosity into creativity.

This flexible BA English with Creative Writing degree allows you to choose topics related to American literature and culture, comparisons of literature across different cultures and art forms (also known as comparative literature), and study diverse aspects of language use in linguistics modules. Your literary and creative studies will be supported by lectures and seminars that will give you practical advice to help you improve your essay writing and refine your research strategies.

Why study BA English with Creative Writing at Goldsmiths

Goldsmiths' Department of English and Creative Writing is one of the most established and long-running creative writing centres in UK Higher Education, and many of our graduates are now leading writers and editors in their field.

Our location on the doorstep of central London means that you will have easy access to one of the most diverse, historic, and dynamic literary centres in the world. We’re regularly visited by literary guest speakers, and our students have recently enjoyed events with Ali Smith, George Saunders, Bernadine Evaristo, Nikesh Shukla, Michael Rosen, Eimear McBride and Howard Jacobson. Our forward-thinking approach to the fields of creative writing and literary studies is supported by our hosting and running of the Goldsmiths Prize, awarded annually to work that pushes the boundaries of the novel.

Who studies English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths

Since 2010, twelve of our alumni have gone on to win the prestigious Eric Gregory Award, awarded annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. Other recent alumni have gone on to win the Ted Hughes Award for poetry, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, The Guardian & 4th Estate Short Story Prize, the European Union Prize for Literature, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the White Review Poetry Prize, with other graduates being shortlisted for the Forward Prize and the TS Eliot Prize.

Many of our students go on to study on leading international MA and MFA and PhD programmes, including on our own leading MA in Creative and Life Writing programme.

Why Goldsmiths

While our graduates are the best advocates of our teaching of English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, our teaching staff of celebrated writers and scholars are ready to support you and your work as a Goldsmiths student. If you want to chat about life and learning here, be it our literature modules, our assessments, what your week might look like as an undergraduate in the Department of English and Creative Writing, or what goes on in our creative writing workshops, we are happy to hear from you.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Dr. Jack Underwood .

What you'll study

Note about optional modules (if available): The below is indicative of the typical modules offered, but is not intended to be construed or relied on as a definitive list of what might be available in any given year. The module content and availability is subject to change.

Each level of the degree includes a single year-long creative writing module taught by creative writing practitioners and active researchers. Each of these modules must be passed in order to progress to the next level and (in the case of the final module) for you to be awarded the degree. 

In your first year, you'll take the following compulsory modules:

You will also choose one of the following option modules:

In your second year, you'll take the following compulsory modules:

You'll then take 75 credits of modules from an approved list. This list is published annually by the Department of English and Creative Writing , and includes the Goldsmiths Elective. This elective allows you to choose a module from a related subject in another department.

A minimum of 30 credits must be a module based on pre-1800 literature.

Examples of recent modules include:

In your final year, you'll take a compulsory Project Development module for 30 credits. With your remaining credits you'll choose from a list of optional modules produce annually by the Department, including at least 30 credits from pre-1800 literature.

Recent modules have included:

You also choose modules (worth a total of 90 credits) from a list published annually by the  Department of English and Creative Writing

Teaching style

This programme is mainly taught through scheduled learning - a mixture of lectures, seminars and workshops. You’ll also be expected to undertake a significant amount of independent study. This includes carrying out required and additional reading, preparing topics for discussion, and producing essays or project work.

The following information gives an indication of the typical proportions of learning and teaching for each year of this programme*:

• Year 1 - 13% scheduled learning, 87% independent learning
• Year 2 - 12% scheduled learning, 86% independent learning, 2% placement
• Year 3 - 12% scheduled learning, 86% independent learning, 2% placement

How you’ll be assessed

You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods, depending on your module choices. These include portfolios of original creative writing and critical commentaries on your work for each of the workshops, coursework portfolios, long essays and examinations (various timescales and formats).

The following information gives an indication of how you can typically expect to be assessed on each year of this programme*:

• Year 1 - 63% coursework, 38% written exam
• Year 2 - 85% coursework, 15% written exam
• Year 3 - 100% coursework

*Please note that these are averages are based on enrolments for 2022/23. Each student’s time in teaching, learning and assessment activities will differ based on individual module choices. Find out more about how this information is calculated .

Credits and levels of learning

An undergraduate honours degree is made up of 360 credits – 120 at Level 4, 120 at Level 5 and 120 at Level 6. If you are a full-time student, you will usually take Level 4 modules in the first year, Level 5 in the second, and Level 6 modules in your final year. A standard module is worth 30 credits. Some programmes also contain 15-credit half modules or can be made up of higher-value parts, such as a dissertation or a Major Project.

Download the programme specification .

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

We accept the following qualifications:

A-level: BBB BTEC: DDM International Baccalaureate: 33 points overall with Three HL subjects at 655 Access: Pass with 45 Level 3 credits including 30 Distinctions and a number of merits/passes in subject-specific modules Scottish qualifications: BBBBC (Higher) or BBC (Advanced Higher) European Baccalaureate: 75%, preferably including English. Irish Leaving Certificate: H2 H2 H2 H2

Additional requirements

Grade B in A-level English Literature/A-Level English Language and Literature/A-level English Language is required if you have studied A-Levels. Alternatively, an equivalent English subject will be accepted e.g. Grade 5 in IB Higher Level English.

International qualifications

We also accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world .

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification ) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for degree-level study .

Alternative qualifications

See our full list of undergraduate entry qualifications .

Fees & funding

Annual tuition fees.

These are the fees for students starting their programme in the 2024/2025 academic year.

From August 2021 EU/EEA/Swiss nationals will no longer be eligible for 'Home' fee status. EU/EEA/Swiss nationals will be classified as 'International' for fee purposes, more information can be found on our fees page .

• Home - full-time: £9250
• Home - part-time: £4625
• International - full-time: £19640

If your fees are not listed here, please check our undergraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office , who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

It’s not currently possible for international students to study part-time under a student visa. If you think you might be eligible to study part-time while being on another visa type, please contact our Admissions Team for more information.

If you are looking to pay your fees please see our guide to making a payment .

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page .

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments. Please check the programme specification for more information.

Funding opportunities

We offer a wide range of scholarships and bursaries, and our careers service can also offer advice on finding work during your studies. Find out more about funding your studies with us .

We are a centre of excellence for poetry. Recent BA graduates include Rachael Allen, whose debut poetry collection Kindgomland was published by Faber in 2019 to great acclaim, and who now works as Poetry Editor for Granta; Poet and non-fiction writer Sophie Collins, is author of the ground-breaking non-fiction work, Small White Monkeys: On Self-expression, Self-help and Shame published by Bookworks in 2018, and a collection of poems, Who Is Mary Sue? Published by Faber in 2018, and selected as a Poetry Book Society Choice. Sophie was awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Society of Literature as part of its inaugural 40 Under 40 scheme in 2018, and is now a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Glasgow; Ella Frears is author of Shine, Darling, her debut collection published by Offord Road Books in 2020, which was shortlisted for both the Forward and TS Eliot Prizes, as well as being selected as a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; Cecilia Knapp was named Young Person’s Poet Laureate for London in 2020 and has been widely commissioned and held residences internationally. Her theatre pieces Finding Home and Losing the Night both opened to sell out London runs at The Roundhouse before touring the UK. Her debut novel Little Boxes is forthcoming from The Borough Press (Harper Collins.) while her debut poetry collection Peach Pig will be published by Corsair in 2022. She curated the anthology Everything is Going to be alright: Poems for When you Really Need Them, published by Trapeze in 2021; Aria Aber is the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection Hard Damage, published by University of Nebraska Press in 2019. After graduating from Goldsmiths, Aria left to study an MFA in Creative Writing at New York University,  before winning a 2020 Whiting Award in Poetry and continuing her practice as a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University; other recent poetry publications by former undergraduates include Glass by Emily Cooper, published by Makina Books, Platinum Blonde by Phoebe Stuckes, published by Bloodaxe, Earth Sign and HYPERLOVE by Naomi Morris, published by Partus Press and Makina Books, with an exciting debut pamphlet by Eve Esfandiari Denney, expected in 2022 with Bad Betty. Our poets’ successes have been matched in recent years by our prose writers. Four novels which began as creative writing dissertations and portfolios have since been published or acquired for publication: Sara Jafari’s debut novel The Mismatch was published by Penguin in 2021, started life on the Creating the Text module, while Marlowe Granados’ best-selling debut, Happy Hour, also published this year by Verso, formed part of Marlowe’s third year creative writing dissertation. Similarly, Abi Andrews debut, The Word for Woman is Wilderness, published by Serpent’s Tail in 2018, was first aired in a workshop taken during her third year on the BA Hons English Creative Writing programme, as did Paddy Crewe’s debut novel, Yip, which will be published in hardback in spring 2022 by Doubleday. Kandace Siobhan Walker’s short story Deep Heart, was winner of the 2019 4th Estate and Guardian short story prize (Kandace was also winner of the 2020 White Review Poetry Prize) and she is also working on her debut novel and collection of poetry; Goldsmiths Creative Writing BA and MA graduate, Dizz Tate’s debut novel Brutes is scheduled for publication by Faber in February 2023. Aside from literary forms, Goldsmiths undergraduate creative writing alumni also include a number of exciting non-fiction writers and journalists: Daisy Jones, who is Associate Editor of VICE UK and author of ALL THE THINGS SHE SAID: Everything I Know About Modern Lesbian and Bi Culture, published by Hachette in 2021; Charlie Brinkhurst Cuff is Award-winning journalist, book editor, columnist and podcast host. She is currently a Senior Staff Editor at the New York Times having enjoyed a celebrated tenure as Editor-in-Chief at gal-dem magazine. She has also written for the  Guardian, Observer, ipaper and Metro, and has worked as weekend editor and writer at Dazed. Excitingly, her debut collection of non-fiction, Black Joy will be published under the Penguin imprint in hardback on 2nd September 2021; Felix Petty, now executive editor at i-D Magazine, following on from his time as music editor for TANK.

About the department

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BA (Hons) — 2025 entry English Literature and Creative Writing

If you’re an aspiring writer and literature enthusiast, our English Literature and Creative Writing BA (Hons) degree has the ideal combination of topics for you.

Key course information

Ba (hons) with placement, why choose this course.

• Engage in intellectually challenging teaching in literature and creative writing, with acclaimed writers and scholars as well as enthusiastic and experienced teachers who convey ideas and explain techniques and methodologies enthusiastically and accessibly  
• As a student of English Literature and Creative Writing BA (Hons) at Surrey, you will become part of a community of literary and cultural scholars, writers, and creative practitioners, and will be able to explore the opportunities and challenges of studying, practising, and producing critical and creative forms of expression.  
• We have a firm eye on your future employability. We’ll equip you with skills that employers value – clear and compelling communication skills, independent thinking and collaborative working. If you choose to take one of our award-winning Professional Training placements , you’ll be able to enhance your readiness for employment.  

Top 5 in the UK

English literature is ranked top 5 for overall student satisfaction* in the National Student Survey 2023

12th in the UK

For English in the Guardian University Guide 2024

13th in the UK

The University of Surrey is ranked 13th in the Complete University Guide 2024.  

*Measured by % positivity across all questions for all providers listed in the Guardian University Guide league tables.

English Literature and Creative Writing alumna launches short story collection

What you need to know about studying English literature

Introducing the School of Literature and Languages

Course details open, what you will study.

On our English Literature and Creative Writing BA (Hons) course, you’ll study vital and influential works of literature, you'll read and discuss contemporary writing as well as classics in a wide range of genres.   

You’ll explore canonical as well as more experimental forms, texts, and authors alongside perspectives, world views, and creative practices that have been historically silenced, marginalised, or endangered. Throughout the programme, you’ll develop sensitivity and appreciation for a diverse range of cultures and forms of artistic expressions, as well as emotional and cultural intelligence when discussing them with your peers and tutors.   

The programme includes innovative modules Science-Fiction and Renaissance Lives, plus a new Creative Writing poetry module and identities module, alongside our excellent existing creative writing and period-based literary modules in Medieval, Early Modern, 19th century, Modernist and Contemporary Studies.   

You’ll develop a wide range of creative writing skills and knowledge, looking at forms such as novels, short stories, poetry, plays, screenplays, graphic novels and writing for games.    

You will study classic works like those of Shakespeare and George Eliot, as well as writing by contemporary authors including Kazuo Ishiguro, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Jhumpa Lahiri.    

Genres you’ll study include travel writing, 19th-century theatre and fiction, science-fiction, contemporary global literatures, medieval literature, romantic literature, early modern, modernist and contemporary literatures.    

Our creative writing modules will develop your understanding of the techniques used and challenges faced by the writers you study on your English literature modules. You’ll assess the potential and challenges of forms of artistic expression that are increasingly central in contemporary culture and society, such as digital storytelling, video-gaming, blogging and podcasting. Your studies will also help you find inspiration and root your own creative work in the authors and literary traditions you’ll be exploring.   

You’ll gain professional and transferable skills in communications, writing, and critical thinking. You’ll learn how to write at a professional level in a variety of modes: analytical commentary and interpretive analysis, literary criticism, prose fiction, poetry, and writing for stage, screen, gaming and beyond. These skills are paramount in a wide range of professional environments and career paths, such as writing, editing, copywriting, teaching, publishing, marketing, journalism, social media and communications roles.  

Culture and arts at Surrey

As a BA (Hons) English Literature and Creative Writing student at Surrey, you’ll find yourself in an exciting and creatively invigorating environment. 

Alongside your lectures, tutorials, seminars and workshops, you'll have a wide range of opportunities to engage with our vibrant research culture and arts activities.  

Literary events on and around campus include the annual Morag Morris Poetry Lecture, the Surrey Poetry Festival and the Surrey New Writers Festival.  

The School of Literature and Languages also regularly hosts talks by major writers and critics, as well as literary agents, publishers and other speakers of interest.  

Our current Distinguished Writer in Residence is the acclaimed writer,  Neel Mukherjee , and our new Poet in Residence for 2023-24 is Briony Hughes. Both offer regular writing workshops and, in the case of our Distinguished Writer in Residence, one-on-one writing surgery sessions.  

Dr Liz Bahs

Programme leader

School of Literature and Languages

This course is taught by academic staff from the School of Literature and Languages.

Course structure Open

The academic year is divided into two semesters of 15 weeks each. Each semester consists of a period of teaching, revision/directed learning and assessment. 

The structure of our programmes follow clear educational aims that are tailored to each programme. These are all outlined in the programme specifications which include further details such as the learning outcomes.

• English Literature and Creative Writing BA (Hons)
• English Literature and Creative Writing BA (Hons) with placement

Please note: The   full module listing for the optional Professional Training placement part of your course is available in the relevant programme specification.

Course options

Year 1 - ba (hons), introduction to creative writing.

This introductory module will provide a theoretical and practice-based introduction to narrative and poetics. We will discuss technical elements of poetry and prose, and address the similarities and differences among various forms. In addition, we will consider historical and literary movements in relation to different formal techniques and their cultural contexts. During the seminar session, students will engage in writing exercises and connected to the topic of the weekly lecture and workshop original work with other students, benefitting from that key peer group feedback and support that will help guide and sustain their practice as writers. Throughout the module, we will examine creative processes and practices and the role of revision in the wider writing process itself. Students will have the opportunity to discuss their own processes in a self-reflective critical commentary that will accompany their final portfolio of creative work.  

THINKING LIKE A CRITIC I

This module introduces students to key theoretical debates and critical methodologies relating to literature and literary studies. It extends the student's knowledge of the different approaches we can take to literary studies, the various questions we can ask of literature, and the diverse forms of knowledge and insight that the study of literature can yield. Simultaneously, it allows students to identify the approaches and concerns in which they have been previously (and often unwittingly) been trained and those which most interest them going forward; it then helps them develop and enhance their understanding and application of their preferred methodologies. The module is in this way both complementary and foundational to all the other modules students will take in both their first year and in subsequent years: it gives them a vital tool-kit they will deploy on all modules. Topics and methodologies to be explored include questions of form and the close reading of literary texts; the political and ideological implications of literary texts; the interrelationships between texts, genres and culture more generally; the relationship between texts and their various historical contexts; and the evolution of the academic discipline of English Literature from the early 20th to the early 21st century. Students are trained not only to understand some of the most influential literary theories and methodologies, but also to appraise, compare and critique these different approaches. They will also undertake their own theoretically-informed critical analyses of literary texts, thereby also developing their ability to apply different methodologies and theoretical approaches. The module's themes and focus are then extended by the semester 2 companion module ELI1011 Theories of Reading II, which continues the survey of key literary theories. Both these modules form a foundation for levels 5 and 6 where the theoretical knowledge and application skills will be further reinforced.

LITERARY HISTORIES I

This module introduces students to different periods in literary history from the medieval period to the late Eighteenth Century through the examination of a variety of texts. Students will study texts in English from the medieval period, the Early Modern period, the Restoration, and the neo-Classical period. Throughout the module students will learn to interpret literature by focusing on aspects of its historical including social, environmental, global and cultural context, and to consider the interplay between historical background and texts. How does historical change and how do specific historical events impact on the production and reception of literature? What distinguishes imaginative literature from other textual historical documents? Students will also be encouraged to reflect on the academic practice of dividing history into key 'moments': the 'politics' of periodization, in other words. At what point does one period end and another begin? Why have literary critics chosen to mark the parameters of certain literary-historical periods as they have? While the focus is on English literature, the module will remain sensitive to the interplay between English literary traditions and those in other countries and the increasingly multicultural dimension of English literary history. Lectures will introduce students to key features of the literary period in question, to theoretical concepts which have proved useful in historicist approaches to literary criticism, and provide readings of set literary texts from a historical perspective. Seminars will enable students to discuss issues raised in the lectures and secondary reading as well as their own interpretations of the set texts in ways that will develop their critical thinking, research, and communication skills. By enabling students to gain the critical skills and knowledge required to study literature historically this module will provide a foundation for their further study of historical literary periods in semester 2 of their first year and for their study of literature in their second and final years.

UNDERSTANDING THE NOVEL

  This module is designed to introduce students to the academic study of the novel. Over the course of the module students will learn to read narrative fiction closely and critically, and to consider the relations between prose texts and the political, cultural, and intellectual contexts in which they are written and read. Focusing on novels in English from a range of historical periods and national contexts, the module examines fundamental aspects of the novel such as formal structure, characterisation, narrative, and voice, and important novelistic genres such as realism and the Gothic. It also considers the novel form’s representation of key issues such as subjectivity, gender, race, and politics. By enabling students to acquire the knowledge and critical skills needed to study and analyse novels, this module will provide a foundation for the study of prose fiction at degree level. This module connects to other period specific modules throughout the degree at levels 5 and 6. As a hybrid creative writing and English literature module, it also makes up part of the creative writing pathway in the degree, connecting to creative writing modules in the first, second and final years  

UNDERSTANDING STAGE AND SCREEN

This module is designed to introduce the academic study of drama and film. By studying three modern British plays and their adaptations to the screen you will develop an understanding of how drama and film are distinguished from other printed forms of literature alongside an appreciation of their cultural significance. Students on the module will be encouraged to think about the relationship between texts and their immediate historical and political contexts. You will be trained in the use of technical terms for drama and films, and will be introduced to the visual and audio analysis appropriate to both forms. Students will have the opportunity to develop creative as well as critical responses to the films and plays studied.  

THINKING LIKE A WRITER

Building on your semester 1 creative writing module, this module will further examine prose and poetry, and will also address writing for the stage, screen and even for games! Additionally, this module will encourage students to reflect on what it might mean to ‘think like a writer’. It will introduce students to writing for the stage as well as the big and small screen, through the work of individuals who are both critics and creative practitioners in their respective fields. The module also examines the creative work of poets, playwrights, screenwriters, prose writers and writers for the new spaces of digital and electronic media often in the light of these authors’ critical writing, and helps students to think about how their own creative and critical practice might inform each other. The module also includes an introduction to narrative and creative writing theory that will be explored in greater depth in the second and final years of your creative writing programme.  

THINKING LIKE A CRITIC II

The module builds on ELI1033, continuing to give students the necessary methodologies for undertaking close reading of literary texts and a self-aware understanding of their own subject positions in doing so. It provides wide coverage of different forms of literary theory and sets this alongside discussions of how to carry out critical analyses on literary texts. The module acts as a basis for levels 5 and 6, where the theoretical knowledge and application skills will be reinforced. Together with a rigorous study of a wide range of theoretical traditions, students will also analyse, through collaborative exercises and seminar discussions, short texts and cultural phenomena. In this way, they will develop the critical skills necessary to appreciate how theoretical texts can provide us with powerful tools to discuss important social questions that affect contemporary societies.

LITERARY HISTORIES II

This module introduces students to the main periods in literary history from Romanticism to Postmodernism by examining a variety of texts from these periods. Students will study texts in English from the Romantic and Victorian periods and from modernism and postmodernism. Throughout the module students will learn to interpret literature by focusing on aspects of its historical (including social, cultural, environmental, and global) context, and to consider the interplay between historical background and texts. How does historical change and how do specific historical events impact on the production and reception of literature? What distinguishes imaginative literature from other textual historical documents? Students will also be encouraged to reflect on the academic practice of dividing history into key 'moments': the 'politics' of periodization, in other words. At what point does one period end and another begin? Why have literary critics chosen to mark the parameters of certain literary-historical periods as they have? While the focus is on English literature, the module will explore the increasingly multicultural dimension of English literary history in the modern period. Lectures will introduce students to key features of the literary period in question, to theoretical concepts which have proved useful in historicist approaches to literary criticism, and provide readings of set literary texts from a historical perspective. Seminars will enable students to discuss issues raised in the lectures and secondary reading and develop their own interpretations of the set texts. This module enables students to build upon and expand the critical skills and knowledge acquired in semester 1 modules by enhancing students' capabilities in these areas and encouraging a deeper study of literature historically, this module will also provide a foundation for the study of literature across a range of time periods in levels 5 and 6. In particular, the module connects to other period specific modules throughout the degree especially at level 5.

UNDERSTANDING POETRY

This module is designed to give students the confidence to read, study, and enjoy poetry. Over the course of the module students will learn to read and think critically and creatively about poems in English from a range of genres, historical periods and sub/cultures, about the formal elements of verse (such as rhyme, lineation, stanza structure, and metre), and about the social, political,global and intellectual contexts that shape poetic writing. The module will introduce and examine the technical features of poetry as a form, and offer an in-depth consideration of some of the most important poetic genres: epic, lyric, dramatic, and free verse. In the final week of the module, a lecture given by one of Surrey University’s professional poets will introduce students to the most recent trends in contemporary poetry. By enabling students to acquire the knowledge and critical skills needed to appreciate and analyse poems, this module will provide a foundation for the study of poetry at degree level. Peer-led discussion of debates around poetry, and workshopping and portfolio-building in seminars, fosters resilience and confidence (in analytical and/or creative writing; sharing ideas and written work in class) whilst developing transferable writing, communication and presentation skills suitable for a range of careers. This module connects to other first year modules in both the English literature and creative writing streams to ground students in the basics of their discipline, setting the scene for more in depth knowledge and practice development in modules throughout the degree. As a hybrid creative writing and English literature module, it also makes up part of the creative writing pathway in the degree, connecting to creative writing modules in the first, second and final years.

GLOBAL LITERATURES

This module introduces students to global literatures across geocultural spaces and historical periods through the study and critical analysis of a range of texts written in multiple languages and from both Western and non-Western perspectives. This module is part of a global strand embedded in our programme, which will help students develop global sensitivity and appreciation for cultural and linguistic diversity. The central question that will guide our discussions is how literary texts engage with the idea of the world. You will work collaboratively to develop critical and analytical skills that will enable you to appreciate: (1) how literary texts foster historical awareness and sensitivity to global issues affecting contemporary societies; (2) how literature is deeply shaped by cultural, political, and social forces; (3) how texts actively create narrative worlds that respond to specific symbolic and cultural needs. Building upon the theoretical foundations acquired during the first year, students will reflect on the value and challenges of studying literature today from a global, multilingual and  comparative perspective.

Year 2 - BA (Hons)

Elements of narrative.

This module explores the varied formal and technical challenges facing creative writers, examining the affordances and constraints of different modes of writing and the cultural, historical and theoretical contexts which impact upon how texts (including prose fiction, poetry, screenplays and dramatic scripts) are written and understood, and to translate this understanding into more effective creative practice.

CONTEMPORARY POSTCOLONIAL FICTIONS AND CULTURES

By focusing on a wide range of postcolonial fictions, this module explores what it means to write in a postcolonial context and allows students to reflect on the legacies of colonialism today. Student will discuss how colonialism and postcoloniality affect both content and fictional form, and will be encouraged to use the solid theoretical foundations built during the first year in the programme to critically analyse postcolonial fictions and cultures. The skills in interpretive analysis and research they will acquire in this module will be fundamental in preparing them for the dissertation project at the conclusion of their learning journey. Students will be able to explore a wide range of artistic forms¿prose, poetry, drama, and film and will develop crucial skills in critical analysis, connective thinking, and digital competency during our seminar discussions and in online activities. This module is part of a global strand embedded in our programme. In addressing prominent global issues such as colonialism, migration, diaspora, racial, gender, and class inequalities this module offers students tools to understand how and why literature can be a powerful instrument of critique and analysis of a persistently unequal world. The module further provides a theoretical underpinning that will enable students to draw connections between contemporary fictions and postcolonial and decolonial theories.

INTRODUCTION TO TEFL

This is a module for Level 5 students in the School of  Literature and Languages. It is taught over one semester, with three contact hours per teaching week.The module considers a range of approaches to teaching English as a Foreign Language, approaches which can be applied to the teaching of other languages. It provides practice and assessment in lesson planning and in teaching through peer teaching tasks. The skills developed on the module such as speaking in front of groups and decision making are transferable to a number of other careers. The module is capped at 14 students in each semester.  

Building on the introduction to modernism covered in the first-year core modules, this module explores a period in literature that was to bring innovation across the spectrum of cultural endeavour. Through a range of exciting and innovative works of literature from around the world, you will be introduced to the key ideas underlying the theories and practises of modernist writers in the period between 1900 and 1945. By exploring the concept of multiple global modernisms, the module builds global and cultural skills that will enable you to critically engage with the key themes central to modernist thought. As well as acquiring in-depth knowledge of the individual texts on the module, you will be able to develop a sense of how movements in modernist literature relate both to each other and to other disciplines such as philosophy, economics, politics, and art. Through the independent research undertaken for assessment and a particular focus on the skills required for advanced secondary source research, this module will also develop resourcefulness and digital skills.

MONSTERS, MYSTICS AND DEMONS

This module explores a range of literary texts produced in England at the end of the Middle Ages, paying particular attention to issues of language, gender, race, social status, travel, and religion. It explores the relationship between the self and the other, focusing on ideas of perfection and monstrosity, and the divine and the demonic. The module explores three interrelated themes that speak to the historical, social, and religious contexts of late Medieval English literature: 1) Monstrous Masculinities and Femininities 2) Travellers’ Tales: Encountering the Other and 3) Visions of Another Order. Alongside analysing examples the literature of the period, you will practice translating passages from late medieval literary texts in the workshops. In addition to the set primary texts, you will examine relevant examples from historical texts and visual that help to further illuminate these three thematic strands.

NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE AND CULTURE

This module gives students a broad and deep understanding of nineteenth-century literature in relation to a range of social, cultural and political contexts. Following a roughly chronological trajectory the module picks up key issues (industrialisation, the impacts of empire, faith and doubt) and examines them through key texts and authors of the period. The module pushes students to think in nuanced ways about the relationship between text and context and about the cultural forces which have promoted or marginalised historical voices.

RENAISSANCE LIVES

Renaissance Lives focusses on early modern identity through the understanding of lives (real and fictional) and how these may be represented in literature and life writing. Through the module, different lives are explored through a thematic focus on gender and sexuality, race and faith. These three strands allow students to focus upon diversity and enable them to explore the relevance of renaissance lives to the present-day ideas. A visit by a professional biofiction author will further encourage students to understand how their own writing may address contemporary discourses of gender, sexuality, race and faith. This optional module develops knowledge and skills introduced at Level 4 both critical and creative and gives students a wider and deeper understanding of key material from the Early Modern period of literature in English. There are two key points of building upon various Level 4 elements: first, a sense of historical contextualisation that focuses on important political and intellectual discourses, and second, a generic pathway that covers drama, poetry, and prose, whether critical or creative. The module also ensures that students have a solid basis for understanding English literature of the Early Modern period and concepts of the self and identity. This knowledge will be extended and deepened through optional modules at level 6.

TRANSLATION FRENCH-ENGLISH I

This is a practical introduction to translation from French to English. Students will be introduced to some basic concepts and terminology in translation and will learn through translating short texts from French to English and writing reflective commentaries on translation issues. Students will gain an understanding of the processes involved in translating from French to English and will develop their ability to analyse and interpret texts and to recognise and resolve translation issues, using appropriate translation resources. Texts will be contemporary and will cover a range of text types, chosen to illustrate a wide variety of translation problems as well as to introduce aspects of Francophone cultures.

TRANSLATION GERMAN-ENGLISH I

This is a practical introduction to translation from German to English. Students will be introduced to some basic concepts and terminology in translation and will learn through translating short texts from German to English and writing reflective commentaries on translation issues. Students will gain an understanding of the processes involved in translating from German to English and will develop their ability to analyse and interpret texts and to recognise and resolve translation issues, using appropriate translation resources. Texts will be contemporary and will cover a range of text types, chosen to illustrate a wide variety of translation problems as well as to introduce aspects of German-speaking cultures.

TRANSLATION SPANISH-ENGLISH I

This is a practical introduction to translation from Spanish to English. Students will be introduced to some basic concepts and terminology in translation and will learn through translating short texts from Spanish to English and writing reflective commentaries on translation issues. Students will gain an understanding of the processes involved in translating from Spanish to English and will develop their ability to analyse and interpret texts and to recognise and resolve translation issues, using appropriate translation resources. Texts will be contemporary and will cover a range of text types, chosen to illustrate a wide variety of translation problems as well as to introduce aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures.

SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: VICTORIAN CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS

This interdisciplinary module, focused on Victorian creative partnerships, explores connections between texts, individuals, couples, circles and movements. It investigates the ways in which female and male figures worked in various forms of partnership: as spouses, siblings, friends and lovers. It examines a range of Victorian texts including poems, short stories, plays, novels and novellas, letters and diaries as well as visual texts. It engages with the themes of gender, sexuality, identity, power, partnership, co/authorship and readership. The module introduces students to contextual debates about sexual politics, gender and representation in the nineteenth-century, and seeks to understand how writers responded and contributed to them. It also reads nineteenth-century figures and texts in relation to more recent feminist and gender theory, revealing their continued cultural importance. Authors studied include: tthe Brownings, the Brontës, George Eliot and George Henry Lewes, Arthur Hugh Clough and Matthew Arnold, Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, the Rossettis, and Michael Field.

WRITING POETRY: COMPOSITION AND CRAFT

This module explores elements of poetic craft, discourse, and techniques for writing poetry through the close analysis of lyric, narrative, dramatic, and hybrid modes in contemporary poetry written for the page and / or performance and exhibition. The module introduces students to contemporary and innovative discussions including topics such as formal and free poetic structures, sound effect and rhythm, poetic voice and persona, writing communities, poetic intent and play. The module asks students to engage with the development of their own writing alongside of reading and listening to contemporary poetry, essays, and manifestos by chosen 'companion poets' they will encounter in the module.

CONTEMPORARY STORYTELLING

This module allows you to explore various modes of storytelling in a contemporary context, with a view to developing your narrative skills. The course will engage with contemporary fiction, poetry, non-fiction, film, and theatre and will help you to to investigate and understand the multiple ways readers and writers engage with storytelling and narrative. There will be lectures on each topic, with workshop-style seminars that are designed to help you engage with and analyse your own writing and the writing of others, with the aim of helping students to hone your ability to edit and create. 

GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN CONTEMPORARY TEXTS AND CULTURES

This module explores how a culturally diverse range of contemporary texts negotiate issues of gender and sexuality. Using a variety of formats (novels, poems, graphic novels, films and even comedy) we will reflect on what writing about gendered experiences and queer desire entails and how these lived and embodied intimacies affect form and determine meaning. The module provides a theoretical underpinning that will enable you to construct links between contemporary texts and relevant trans-inclusive and anti-racist theories about intersectional identities and LGBTQIA2S+* literature and culture. In this module, you will not just read about queer theory, you will hear directly from the theorists: The module provides podcast conversations with several prominent scholars from the field to enrich your reading of secondary literature with a digital research communication tool. You will be able to expand the knowledge of feminism, queer studies, and intersectional thinking that you have built in your first year of studies and reflect on how these discourses affect you and your peers in your day-to-day life, while also considering unfamiliar perspectives and cultures.

ROMANTIC LITERATURE: 1789-1830

Following on from the brief introductions to Romanticism at Level 4 , this module allows students to explore in more depth and detail the profound literary and cultural innovations that took place in the Romantic period (roughly, 1789-1830), and which continue to shape culture and society today. The module forms part of a set of historically focused pre-1900 ‘period’ modules that focus on specific literary periods as a way of studying literature: students must take at least one of these modules to complement the more contemporary focus of other modules, so as to gain greater knowledge of both the evolution of English literature over time and the variant forms and concerns of literature in different historical periods. Examining a broad range of canonical and non-canonical Romantic texts (and thus highlighting the diversity of authors and styles in the period), the module each week uses a selection of representative writers to explore a key form or theme: for example, Nature, imagination, the self and subjectivity, sentimentalism and feeling, and shifting notions of masculinity and femininity. Famous writers such as Blake, Wordsworth, Keats and Byron are read alongside authors who are less well known today (for example, Charlotte Smith, Anna Letitia Barbauld, Ignatius Sancho and Henry Derozio) to give students a rich, synchronic understanding of the key concerns, debates, alliances and animosities distinctive to this specific period in British literary history. At the same time, students explore the global contexts and connections driving the evolution of English literature and of British culture more broadly in this period, and they also consider the ongoing relevance of Romantic-era concerns and debates to 21st century society (for example, Romantic writers’ diverse reactions to increasing globalization, and the emergence of modern environmental and conservationist thinking).

THE AMERICAN CENTURY

This module draws attention to and interrogates the changing relationship between the 'self' and 'society' in twentieth-century American culture. Approaching this topic from an interdisciplinary perspective, the module examining three interrelated areas that address the major social, political, and aesthetic developments of the 'American Century': 1) urbanisation, commerce and the American city, 2) transnationalism and American identity, and race, nation, and the body in contemporary America. In addition to the primary texts, students will examine relevant examples from film, art, music, and design that help to further illuminate these three thematic strands. In particular, this module focuses on students’ global awareness and understanding, both regarding American literary and culture, as well as the ways in which successive periods of migration and transnational exchange have led to widespread American influence in a range of cultural domains. Through analysis of a range of texts and cultural materials, students will gain deeper insight into the impact and influence of American culture in the twentieth century and beyond to develop global and cultural capabilities.

SCIENCE FICTION

This module explores the meanings and developments of science fiction throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as well as focusing on the relationship between this innovative form and the cultural, political, ethical and ecological sustainability issues addressed in the texts. Discussion and analysis will focus not only on what worlds or peoples are imagined in science fiction and why, but also on how such core features of science fiction have been developed, challenged and reconfigured by various political and historical movements and events (such as the cold war, feminism, black civil rights movements, gay liberation, imperial endeavours, global warming and other ecological sustainability narratives, among others). The module will give particular attention to technological developments and their relationship to the human, addressing the ways in which the human is rethought and reimagined through its interaction with technological innovation. Themes that will be addressed may include alternative futurisms, artificial intelligence, body modifications, alien species and/or worlds, dystopian and utopian imaginaries, future technologies, technology and sustainability, technology and identity and struggles for freedom. Science fiction will therefore be engaged with through the lens of contemporary theories (such as postcolonialism, gender studies, ecocriticism and posthumanism), as well as with attention to changing interpretations of the meaning of the genre in its diverse socio-political and global cultural contexts.  This module connects to other contemporary literature modules on the programme in your second year and is part of the contemporary literature route that students can choose as a focus of their degree, which includes module in the first and final years of the degree. As a hybrid creative writing and English literature module, it also makes up part of the creative writing pathway in the degree, connecting to creative writing modules in the 1st, 2nd and final years.

TRANSMEDIA NARRATIVES

First defined by media scholar Henry Jenkins in 2003, transmedia storytelling is the process of creating, sharing and developing fictional content across a range of media and communication platforms, including film, television, print and social media. Transmedia storytelling is an outcome of the structure of the contemporary media and entertainment industries, which are dominated by global media conglomerates, such as the Disney corporation, that aim to maximise audience engagement with their creative properties. For example, fans of the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ can consume different iterations of the Marvel stories and characters that extend beyond the films via spin-off television series, new comics, short films, animations and websites. These act as extensions to the existing story as it moves from one medium to another. This is one of the key things that distinguishes transmedia storytelling from traditional adaptation of, for example, a book to a film. Transmedia storytelling has also been celebrated as a narrative model that promotes collaborative authorship and participatory spectatorship from fans, who frequently contribute to official and unofficial extensions of narrative storyworlds. In this module we will be exploring the concept of transmedia storytelling and how fictional storyworlds are created and extended across multiple, global media platforms. After establishing the key concepts of transmedia storytelling, we will look at a range of case studies. These will vary according current trends in popular culture, but might include Harry Potter, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gossip Girl, Star Wars, James Bond, Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. Please Note: This is not a creative writing module. Students may need access to one or more streaming platforms in order to access material that we will be examining in our case studies. This will be advised at the beginning of the semester, but might include Disney+, AmazonPrime, Netflix, etc.

TEACHING LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

This module takes students off campus and into local schools. They work closely with MFL or English Literature teachers, shadowing them or taking small groups of school students, and gaining an insight into the teaching profession. This module complements ELA2012 Introduction to TEFL, by allowing students to see teaching strategies and techniques in the real world. The Module has the backing of the "Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme" ( www.uas.ac.uk ).

WRITING THE VICTORIANS: NEO-VICTORIANISM IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE

This module aims to explore a variety of neo-Victorian texts to examine how the legacy of the Victorians continues to inform contemporary culture. Students will be asked to consider the significance of neo-Victorian writing in the context of postmodernity and will analyse the literary, cultural and commercial impacts of the genre. The module will begin by considering early examples of neo-Victorian texts that emerged in the 1950s and 60s before exploring the expansion of the genre in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It will cover a range of neo-Victorian productions including novels, poetry, film and TV adaptations that are informed by well-known Victorian texts in order to examine the wider cultural impact of contemporary engagements with the Victorian period, and will ask students to analyse issues of race, class, gender and sexuality which are interrogated and challenged by neo-Victorian works. The module draws upon and enhances the core knowledge and research skills acquired in second year Victorian Literature focussed modules. As a hybrid creative writing and English literature module, it also makes up part of the creative writing pathway in the degree, connecting to creative writing modules in the 1st, 2nd and final years.

TRANSLATION ENGLISH-FRENCH I

This is a practical introduction to translation from English to French. Students will learn to express some basic concepts and terminology in translation in French and will learn through translating short texts from English to French and writing reflective commentaries on translation issues. Students will gain an understanding of the processes involved in translating from English to French and will develop their ability to analyse and interpret texts and to recognise and resolve translation issues, using appropriate translation resources. Texts will be contemporary and will cover a range of text types, chosen to illustrate a wide variety of translation problems and enhance cultural awareness.

TRANSLATION ENGLISH-SPANISH I

This is a practical introduction to translation from English to Spanish. Students will learn to express some basic concepts and terminology in translation in Spanish and will learn through translating short texts from English to Spanish and writing reflective commentaries on translation issues. Students will gain an understanding of the processes involved in translating from English to Spanish and will develop their ability to analyse and interpret texts and to recognise and resolve translation issues, using appropriate translation resources. Texts will be contemporary and will cover a range of text types, chosen to illustrate a wide variety of translation problems and enhance cultural awareness.

Year 3 - BA (Hons)

Language diversity.

This module, which assumes no prior knowledge of languages other than English, is intended to give students an insight into the diversity of human communication systems found throughout the world. In order to understand how language works, we need to examine the variety of systems to be found, some of which differ drastically from what we know and what we might expect. This module builds on the skills students have developed in constructing arguments and finding evidence in support of their reasoning through their modules at Levels 4 and 5, by demonstrating how complimentary skills are applied in scientific research related to language. Students are introduced to alternative ways of thinking about the world around us to further develop their ability to scrutinise and assess evidence.

WRITING GAMING

Gaming has existed as a mode of play and expression since the earliest times of human existence. In the latter part of the 20th and into the first two decades of the 21st Century (the period we will focus on with this module), there has been a vast expansion of the forms, modes and technologies employed in gaming and game play. Out of wargaming and board gaming practices (and often the interfaces of these) in the post-World War II era, increasingly complex and sophisticated character and narrative focussed Role-Playing Games (RPGs) developed as well as other narrative forms that connect gaming with interactive textuality, such as gamebooks, Collectable Card Games, online interactive fiction, video games and multi-player online gaming platforms. There has been, in the early 21st century, additionally, a large increase in the number of board games being produced and played, while wargaming also remains an active and vibrant aspect of gaming culture. An aspect of gaming that has sometimes fallen short, in ‘quality’ terms, though, is the writing that underpins both the rules systems and the ‘story’ component of games (background, character, description. narrative, dialogue, terminology, etc.) This is perhaps unsurprising as games have been primarily written by gamers rather than professional writers; many of these, of course, go on to develop their writing skills and become accomplished writers in their own right. More and more, though, creative writers are specifically incorporated into the game design and realisation processes (for both analogue and virtual gaming environments) to improve the quality of the gaming experience. In this module students will receive an overview of the gaming field and examine aspects of this that specifically pertain to writing for games. What approaches work well for games and gaming modes? How are these different from writing for and in other forms and media? What writing skills are particularly useful? Do we have the freedom to write outside of limiting industry constraints and models? What are the new forms of writing practice that are emerging in relation to games and gaming? We will also be interested in analysing games and gaming critically as cultural objects, and situating them within the broader context of contemporary cultural and literary theory. This is not a module that will teach students how to code and/or produce and design video games (or, indeed commercial analogue games). We will touch on aspects of game design, game production, gaming studies, critical digital studies, etc., but the focus for this module will be on writing creatively for games: writing gaming. Expert guest speakers from the gaming and independent gaming industries will be included in the teaching provision for this module. If students have specific coding, visual art or musical/sound art skills that they would like to bring to their exercises and assignments, they can certainly draw on these skills, but if they don’t, that is completely fine – none of these are required for this module. In each seminar we will first spend some time discussing the set texts and the techniques and standpoints employed by writers and other artists, before moving on to the workshop part of the session where students will produce work in accordance with the task set for that week, within and outside of the classroom. We will read and discuss a selection of pieces at the end of each class. This process will help students grow in confidence, both in presentational terms and in terms of delivering and receiving feedback on their work, in a safe and supportive setting. In addition, each week there will be a scheduled 2-hour gaming session where students will gather to explore individual and collaborative gaming in practice. Different approaches to gaming will be proposed each week, or students can opt to work during this time on longer gaming experiences and projects. At the end of the semester students will produce a creative portfolio of gaming writing, alongside a critical commentary reflecting on the creative work produced and using theories, concepts and practices studied on the module, OR an academic critical essay examining some aspect of writing for games OR a Game Demo alongside a critical commentary reflecting on the demo produced and using theories, concepts and practices studied on the module. Possible submissions for the creative portfolio include online interactive fiction (e.g. Twine, Squiffy), a gamebook text, a tabletop game text (board game, card game, wargame, Role-Playing Game), a game demo, a game setting, a game system, Game Design Documentation (GDD) for a proposed game, a 'creative essay', gaming portfolio as creative essay, a zine, a website for a game, etc. This module connects to other contemporary literature modules on the programme in the 2nd and final years where the emphasis is on 20th and 21st Century approaches to creating and examining literatures and our cultural responses to them. As such, it is part of the contemporary literature route that students can choose as a focus of their degree. As a hybrid creative writing and English literature module, it also makes up part of the creative writing pathway in the degree, connecting to creative writing modules in the 1st, 2nd and final years.  

WOMEN BEHIND THE SCREEN: GENDER & LABOUR IN FILM

Over the past 90 years, only three women have won the Oscar for best director and only 4 more have been nominated. Hollywood’s marginalisation of women’s authorial agency reflects a global pattern of women being shut out of the top creative jobs of director and screenwriter. Instead, women who work in film are more often found in roles that tend not to be recognised as creatively significant. Why is it that women have faced such barriers to entry and success in the world of film? Why are the roles that women typically undertake considered less important or valuable to a film’s success? Are women’s films less well-regarded critically and by audiences? Has this changed over time? This module explores the relationship between gender and labour in film by looking at the types of roles women have played in filmmaking. That is, instead of thinking about how women are represented on screen via the characters they play, we will consider the part they play behind the camera in getting films, of all types, made. In doing this, we will be looking at, and questioning, perceptions of the types of roles women can, should and do undertake in filmmaking, both currently and in the past. We will consider the work of women who have risen to positions of prominence as writers, directors and producers in the mainstream global film industries as well as looking at the opportunities afforded to women in other arenas, such as independent and experimental film. Just as importantly, we will think about women’s ‘invisible’ labour in filmmaking, be that through low-valued, gendered jobs (such as make-up artists and secretaries) or through amateur and non-professional filmmaking activities. As a whole, the module will question whether, and if so how, women’s creative power and agency in film has been marginalised, and the ways women have sought to overcome this. This module is open to all students, whether or not you have previously taken any film studies modules.

QUEER ECOLOGIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE

Environmental literature is deeply entwined with queer, decolonial and intersectional perspectives: Place and race, space and class, feminist and LGBTQIA2s+* issues, all meet in the queer ecologies we will explore in this module. We will learn about the (queer) history of writing about the environment, about the role of protest in literature and about how describing the world around us in texts actually changes the shape of the natural and built environment. Building on skills and knowledge you have acquired in previous modules on literary history and on theoretical approaches, the module aims to expand your knowledge of global ecocritical and queer writing and theory and to enable you to critically analyse contemporary depictions of climate change dystopias, of human and non-human animal relationships, of protest poetry, and of queer environmental fiction. We will discuss novels, poetry, performances, Youtube videos, as well as the odd social media account, and always combine our readings with a specific theoretical concept to help you learn how to put knowledge into practice. Since the module will also give you some insight into research communication, you will have the option of creating a research-based podcast as your final assessment. The module will include a workshop on podcasting, which will teach you new digital skills and enable you to develop an independent project, potentially in cooperation with collaborators outside of the seminar room. You will also contribute to a collaborative digital glossary, taking charge of creating a communal knowledge resource with formative feedback from your lecturer and comments and questions from fellow students. This module is part of a global strand embedded in our programme, which will help students develop global sensitivity and appreciation for cultural and linguistic diversity. We will discuss a global and culturally diverse range of primary texts, as well as theory texts, and cover, for example, Indigenous knowledges from different parts of the planet.

CONTEMPORARY SHAKESPEARE

This module introduces students to a range of creative and critical strands and debates related to contemporary Shakespearean performance. These may include global and intercultural Shakespeare, adaptations on stage and screen, applied Shakespeare, gender - and colour-blind Shakespeare, cultural politics and ethics. Drawing on relevant critical debates on how and why Shakespeare is performed today within diverse and multicultural societies, students will be able to engage with case-studies of UK and international productions and artists. The module will pay attention to key terms such as diversity, diaspora, hybridity and inclusivity and enable students to draw on these in informed critical analysis and discussion.

THE GOTHIC IMAGINATION, 1800S PRESENT

The Gothic has been a fixture of British and American literary history and popular culture from its origins in the eighteenth century, and continues to capture and haunt the human imagination. Straddling both 'high' and 'low' art forms, appealing to elite as well as mass audiences, the Gothic thrives on blurring boundaries and dissolving traditional dichotomies- between, for example, self and other, human and inhuman, civilisation and savagery, public and private identities This optional level 6 module focuses on Gothic literary and cultural production from Horace Walpole's 1764 seminal Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto up to the stylized Goth aesthetic and obsession with true crime Gothic figures in twenty-first-century cinema and television. Drawing on a variety of literary and visual texts this module demonstrates how Gothic fictions are born out of hyper-tense socio-political and psychological states, symbolising and expressing anxieties about class, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality and gender. Gothic texts are situated in their historical, biographical, geographical and global contexts, offering a nuanced understanding of the proliferation of the genre across periods, disciplines and borders. As well as exploring famous Gothic figures of the vampire and the zombie, we also consider the Gothic as a mode of writing, and as a mode of cultural engagement with the traumas of post/modernity. The module confronts topics including otherness and the limits of the human, monstrous doubling, the horrors of addiction, grotesque transformation, and the ethics and dangers of science. It traces the evolution of the Gothic, covering: Gothic origin; European Gothic; Gothic satire; Romantic and Neo/Victorian Gothic; Female and Feminist Gothic; American and African-American Gothic; and Goth culture. Through studying the texts, debates and themes of the module, and through the assessments, you will develop transferable skills in critical thinking and reading, independent research and groupwork, presentation and communication, digital capabilities and analytical writing.

RULE BREAKERS, UPSTARTS & GENRE RAPSCALLIONS: GENRE WRITING FROM COMMERCIAL TO SUBVERSIVE

Often dismissed as disposable entertainment, derided for rehashing formulaic plot devices, popular genre fiction may better be considered literature that tests the generic boundaries within which it operates. This Level 6 Creative Writing module aims to establish the fundamental techniques, strategies, and conventions of popular genres and modes (such as mystery, horror, graphic narrative), as well as ways writers may choose to subvert those conventions, with an eye toward developing original creative projects that engage—in some way—with genre. This module is intended to complement the range of Creative Writing modules offered at level 6, focussing on genre construction and reception across a variety of contexts. One of the keys to becoming a more sophisticated writer is to become a more careful reader. Whether you love or hate, are exhilarated, or bored by a text, you can always learn from it. To that end, we will read and discuss relevant literary and theoretical works in detail, considering both the elements of craft that contribute to the construction of different genres (character, plot, form, structure, and so on), as well as the aesthetic and conceptual frameworks that underpin each text, particularly where writers may subvert genre expectations. And to make use of all our reading, we will learn to articulate responses to set texts through a series of writing exercises in which you are encouraged to experiment—and have fun—with the concepts introduced by the texts we read. Students should also be prepared to contribute fully to workshop discussions of their own and each other’s work. The module will provide students the opportunity to produce, revise and polish their creative writing and will encourage and enable them to reflect on their own creative work and writing practice in a productive and critically informed manner. Attendance is compulsory.

THE AGE OF CHIVALRY: MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN ROMANCE

This module introduces students to the huge variety of medieval and Early Modern romance from the twelfth to the early-seventeenth centuries. The texts will be read either in Middle English or in translation (languages covered will be Latin, French, Middle English, Arabic, Spanish, and Welsh). The module explores the genre with a particular interest in gender and sexuality, instances of transgression, multi-culturalism, and multilingualism. It also investigates the traditional connection of romances with female readership. The module is subdivided into three interconnected areas: stories of knightly chivalry, tales of the supernatural, and reactions to romance. As well as the primary texts, students will study examples of contemporary historical material to help them contextualise both the romances and these three thematic areas. The module will build on students’ understanding of medieval and Early Modern texts and historical contexts developed from modules in the first and second years. Additionally, the module will enable students to further engage their interests in literary history, the development of romance as a genre, and examining literature through key critical and theoretical lenses such as gender theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and ecocriticism. After taking this module, students will have a detailed understanding of the fluid and expansive nature of romance and its changing historical and social contexts. They will also have been afforded the opportunity to develop their critical thinking, research, writing, and communication skills in ways that will benefit them on their chosen career path.

CREATIVE WRITING AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

This module is intended to follow on from previous CW modules and help you develop with an advanced engagement with questions of form and craft. It will concentrate on the practicalities of writing creatively within the context of a broad narrative frame. The focus of the module is on prose fiction and on poetry, as well as helping you produce polished and professional quality work in either or both modes. This module also provides knowledge and advice on the processes of getting published, the workings of the publishing industry and invites reflection on the challenges and opportunities of writing professionally.    

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

The module offers students the opportunity to learn about children’s literature across a variety of genres, ages, as well as about its historical development and socio-cultural contexts. The module will require students to engage the critical thinking skills and theoretical knowledge that they have acquired in modules across their first and second years in a new context, enabling them to think deeply about the ways in which children’s literature should be studied with the same rigorous approach that they would apply to texts written for adults. In particular, students will be encouraged to consider how genre, form, gender, race, identity, setting, temporality,. They will also confront their own relationship to texts that they read as children or young adults and consider what components result in effective writing for children which will enable them to engage with complex critical concepts, and develop their own writing both creative and critical. Through participating in group discussions in the lecture-seminars, students will develop a detailed understanding of how to analyse children’s literature and how to write for children. The module will also afford students the opportunity to develop their critical thinking, research, writing, and communication skills in ways that will benefit them on their chosen career path. At the end of the semester students will produce a work of children’s literature alongside a commentary reflecting upon their creative work OR a critical essay that focusses on two works of children’s literature using the theories, concepts and practices studied.

SCREENWRITING

The module offers students the opportunity to learn the processes for writing a compelling script for film or television. Through analysing film clips, reading extracts from screenplays, engaging with theoretical concepts, and participating in class discussions and workshops students will be offered a comprehensive overview of the screenwriting process. The module builds upon the knowledge and skills from students’ BA studies in English Literature and Creative Writing at Level 4. It develops critical and creative skills for modules including the dissertation and aligns with other critical and creative modes in other at Level 6.  The two-hour workshops address the needs of in-depth writing and analysis at level 6. At the end of the semester students will produce a professionally formatted script for a short film or television episode alongside a commentary reflecting upon their creative work and/or a critical essay that focusses on films/ TV episodes of their own choice using theories, concepts and practices studied on the module.

UNDERSTANDING ANIMATION

Innovations in frame-by-frame filmmaking techniques and technology have played a significant role in the evolution of cinema and the moving image. Animation could be argued as the precursor to cinema, as early animation devices preceded the invention of the motion picture camera. Today, animation and frame-by-frame filmmaking plays a significant role in cinema, from special effects in blockbuster Hollywood films to the rise in popularity and success of animated features. This module addresses animation from a historical and/or contemporary perspective by looking at examples of different types of frame-by-frame filmmaking (e.g. traditional animation, digital and CGI animation, studio animation, independent and artist animation). The focus of the module will vary according to the convener’s interest and expertise, but could, for example, focus on one example of animation in-depth (e.g. Disney animation or digital animation) or cover a range in terms of history, technology, aesthetics. By responding to the convener’s research interests and expertise, the module will introduce current research in animation and/or film studies and/or new media studies.

MOBILITIES OF NATION AND EMPIRE: VICTORIAN LITERATURE 1850-1890

This module explores the relationship between national and imperial identities in literature from the 1850s to 1890s by writers from Britain and beyond, including Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins, Behramji Malabari and James Africanus Horton. The module introduces students to contextual debates about the nation-state and its imperial engagements, and seeks to understand how authors respond and contribute to these ideas through literature both from within and beyond Britain. The module engages with these themes through a focus on concepts of space and mobility, using literary journeys as a way into understanding how novelists construct a dialogue between national and imperial spaces in literary texts. It draws upon and enhances the core knowledge and research skills acquired in second year Victorian Literature focussed modules. As a hybrid creative writing and English literature module, it also makes up part of the creative writing pathway in the degree, connecting to creative writing modules in the 1st, 2nd and final years.

BUILDING STORIES- METHODS AND MATERIALS OF CONTEMPORARY WRITING

"Literature was never only words, never merely immaterial verbal constructions. Literary texts, like us, have bodies, an actuality necessitating that their materialities and meanings are deeply interwoven into each other"-N. Katherine Hayles, Writing Machines. In this level 6 Creative Writing module, we will, as Hayles argues, consider the materiality of a variety of print-based and digital-born literature with an eye toward developing original creative projects. We will read and discuss relevant literary and theoretical works in detail, considering the medium (and technology, where appropriate) involved in their construction, as well as the aesthetic and conceptual frameworks that underpin each text. And to make use of all of our reading, students will learn to articulate responses to set texts through a series of writing exercises in which they are encouraged to experiment-to get their hands dirty, to play, to have fun-with the concepts introduced by the texts we read. Students should also be prepared to contribute fully to workshop discussions of their own and each other's work. The module will provide students the opportunity to produce, revise and polish their creative writing and will encourage and enable them to reflect on their own creative work and writing practice in a productive and critically-informed manner. Attendance is compulsory.

MEDIEVAL WOMEN'S WRITING

This module explores the centrality of texts written by and for medieval women to both the history of medieval literature and to women's literary history. You will be introduced to a range of works written for and about women in England between the 11th and 15th centuries and will examine in detail the major female authors writing from the 12th to the 15th centuries, such as the courtly writer Marie de France, the English woman mystic Julian of Norwich, and the visionary Margery Kempe. Texts will be read either in Middle English or in modernized versions, or (in the case of texts written in the French of the English, in translation). The module will explore a range of literary forms and genres, including saints' lives, romance and lais, mystical and visionary writing and women's letters. You will be asked to critically analyse and/or engage creatively with the texts, paying attention to your linguistic, literary, religious and socio- historical contexts and focusing on issues such as antifeminism, social hierarchies, literacy, multingualism and multi-culturalism, and gender and sexuality. The module provides you with a working knowledge of tools on used by researchers and writers examining and engaging with historically remote literatures and cultures, building on previous modules on global literatures and theories of gender and sexuality. These tools include not only the ability to analyse and critically evaluate texts and ideas, but also to understand them within their wider historical, geographical and social contexts, as well as practical tools of reading and translating Middle English texts.

Semester 1 & 2

Dissertation.

The dissertation module is intended to provide students with an opportunity to select a research topic relating to an aspect of literary study which has engaged their own particular interest, and to explore it in detail through guided self-study. Each student will be assigned a tutor who will assist them in choosing their subject matter and literary approach, and who will provide advice, encouragement and formative feedback over the course of the writing process, as well as suggesting relevant reading material which may help inspire or critically locate the project. As well as the dissertation itself students will undertake a formative presentation in semester 1, and work on developing self-reflective skills through completing a progress log with their supervisors. This module connects to other modules on the programme undertaken by the students and can act as a culmination of their studies, in that the students can bring together and build from strands from earlier modules that they have particularly liked and excelled at, or act as a complement to other modules that the student has enjoyed but where they wish to use this dissertation module as an opportunity to explore and develop a different area that they wish to write on. As such, this module can connect with any of the modules students have studied across their degree, and allows them to tailor their pathway through the degree, and the degree itself, in their own way.  

CREATIVE WRITING SUBMISSION

This module provides students with the opportunity to explore the challenges of producing a large scale portfolio of creative writing accompanied by self-reflective critical commentary. This Dissertation portfolio may consist of a single extended piece of writing or a collection of pieces of a shorter length. An agreed word count for students submitting poetry should be negotiated with their supervisor, although as a rule 5,000 words of creative prose is considered equivalent to 150 lines of poetry. Each student will be assigned a supervisor who will assist them in choosing their subject matter and literary approach, and who will provide advice, encouragement and formative feedback over the course of the writing process, as well as suggesting relevant reading material which may help inspire or critically locate the project. This module also allows students to reflect at length on the project’s rigourous relationship to previous work in the field, form or genre, on the writing processes and thinking behind the creative choices made, and to locate the work productively in literary and theoretical contexts. As well as the dissertation itself students will undertake a formative presentation in semester 1, and work on developing self-reflective skills through completing a progress log with their supervisors. This module connects to other modules on the programme undertaken by the students and can act as a culmination of their studies, in that the students can bring together and build from strands from earlier modules that they have particularly liked and excelled at, or act as a complement to other modules that the student has enjoyed but where they wish to use this dissertation module as an opportunity to explore and develop a different area that they wish to write on. As such, this module can connect with any of the modules students have studied across their degree, and allows them to tailor their pathway through the degree, and the degree itself, in their own way.  

Year 1 - BA (Hons) with placement

Year 2 - ba (hons) with placement, year 3 - ba (hons) with placement, professional training year module (full-year work).

This module supports students’ development of personal and professional attitudes and abilities appropriate to a Professional Training placement.  It supports and facilitates self-reflection and transfer of learning from their Professional Training placement experiences to their final year of study and their future employment.  The PTY module is concerned with Personal and Professional Development towards holistic academic and non-academic learning, and is a process that involves self-reflection, documented via the creation of a personal record, planning and monitoring progress towards the achievement of personal objectives.  Development and learning may occur before and during the placement, and this is reflected in the assessment model as a progressive process. However, the graded assessment takes place primarily towards the end of the placement.  Additionally, the module aims to enable students to evidence and evaluate their placement experiences and transfer that learning to other situations through written and presentation skills.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING YEAR MODULE (WORK-STUDY 50/50)

This module supports students’ development of personal and professional attitudes and abilities appropriate to a Professional Training placement.  It supports and facilitates self-reflection and transfer of learning from their Professional Training placement experiences to their final year of study and their future employment.  The PTY module is concerned with Personal and Professional Development towards holistic academic and non-academic learning, and is a process that involves self-reflection, documented via the creation of a personal record, planning and monitoring progress towards the achievement of personal objectives.  Development and learning may occur before and during the placement, and this is reflected in the assessment model as a progressive process. However, the graded assessment takes place primarily towards the end of the placement.  Additionally, the module aims to enable students to evidence and evaluate their placement experiences and transfer that learning to other situations through written skills.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING YEAR MODULE (FULL-YEAR STUDY)

This module supports students’ development of personal and professional attitudes and abilities appropriate to a Professional Training placement.  It supports and facilitates self-reflection and transfer of learning from their Professional Training placement experiences to their final year of study and their future employment.  The PTY module is concerned with Personal and Professional Development towards holistic academic and non-academic learning and is a process that involves self-reflection. Development and learning may occur before and during the placement, and this is reflected in the assessment model as a progressive process. However, the graded assessment takes place primarily towards the end of the placement.  Additionally, the module aims to enable students to evidence and evaluate their placement experiences and transfer that learning to other situations through written skills.

Teaching and learning

Our creative writing lecturers are all published writers as well as experienced lecturers and researchers, who bring their creative and professional experience and insight to the classroom – and to the creative writing you produce. 

In our lectures, we introduce a diverse variety of classic and contemporary texts and a wide range of modes of writing – everything from sonnets to screenplays, novels to flash fiction. In your weekly workshops, you are encouraged to experiment with these techniques and types of writing yourself, receiving regular detailed feedback from your tutors and suggestions from your peers.  

At Surrey, we believe that English literature and creative writing fit together perfectly as parts of a joint degree. The reading in your English literature modules will inspire the work you produce in your creative writing classes. The theoretical discussions and practical exercises you undertake in your creative writing modules will inform your understanding of the creative and technical decisions made by the writers you study in English literature classes.  

This programme is designed not only to deepen your understanding and enjoyment of English literature, but to help build the confidence and skills you’ll need to write creatively to a professional standard yourself. 

• Independent study
• Practical sessions

We assess modules individually and award credits for the successful completion of each one. Assessment takes place through a combination of examination and/or coursework, practical examinations and reports. 

Check individual module information to see full details at a module level. 

General course information

Contact hours.

Contact hours can vary across our modules. Full details of the contact hours for each module are available from the University of Surrey's  module catalogue . See the modules section for more information.

New students will receive their personalised timetable in Welcome Week. In later semesters, two weeks before the start of semester.

Scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week (Monday – Friday), with part-time classes normally scheduled on one or two days. Wednesday afternoons tend to be for sports and cultural activities.

View our code of practice for the scheduling of teaching and assessment (PDF) for more information.

Stag Hill is the University's main campus and where the majority of our courses are taught. 

Career opportunities Open

We offer careers information, advice and guidance to all students whilst studying with us, which is extended to our alumni for three years after leaving the University.

The survey, Graduate Outcomes 2023, HESA, shows that 94 per cent of undergraduates in the School of Literature and Languages go on to further study or employment in a wide variety of careers.  

English literature graduates are ideally qualified for such professions as journalism, marketing, management, communications, publishing, the media industries, teaching, writing and arts administration. 

Some examples of careers our graduates have gone on to include: 

• Graduate Trainee, Dale Carnegie Training 
• Editorial Assistant, The Handbook 
• Junior Account Executive, Livewire Public Relations 
• Teacher of English, Teach First 
• Editor and Marketing Executive, Warner Group Publications 
• Editorial Assistant, Hachette UK 
• Copywriter, Tesco MPC. 

See the developing careers of some of our alumni .

If you’d like to pursue further study, our courses will provide you with essential knowledge and skills, as well as offering informed support and guidance to assist you in your studies. 

Hear from our students Open

Student - English Literature with Creative Writing BA (Hons)

"The staff on my course are brilliant. The literature academics and creative writers know their areas so well and are excited to share and build their knowledge with their students."

Luana Vasconcelos

Student - English Literature and Creative Writing BA (Hons)

"It’s just incredible to be able to write my own work and explore different formats. I’ve always been a prose writer, but by my final year I’ve written poems, short stories and scripts as well."

Entry requirements Open

Learn more about the qualifications we typically accept to study this course at Surrey.

Overall: ABB-BBB.

Required subjects: Grade B at English Language or English Literature.

Please note: A-level General Studies and A-level Critical Thinking are not accepted. Applicants taking an A-level science subject with the Science Practical Endorsement are expected to pass the practical element.

GCSE or equivalent: English Language at Grade 4 (C) and Mathematics at Grade 4 (C).

BTEC (QCF Level 3) Extended Diploma

Overall: DDD-DDM.

Required subjects: Please contact the Admissions team to discuss suitability

International Baccalaureate Diploma

Overall: 33-32. 

Required subjects: English Literature or English Literature HL5/SL6.

GCSE or equivalent: Mathematics (either course) HL4/SL4.

European Baccalaureate

Overall: 78%-75%.

Required subjects: English Literature or English Literature with at least 7.5.

GCSE or equivalent: Mathematics 6.

Access to HE Diploma

Overall: QAA-recognised Access to Higher Education Diploma with 45 level 3 credits overall including 30 at Distinction and 15 at Merit - 27 at Distinction and 18 credits at Merit.

Required subjects: Please contact the Admissions team to discuss suitability.

GCSE or equivalent: English Language and Mathematics at Grade 4 (C).

Scottish Highers

Overall: AABBB-ABBBB.

Required subjects: English Language or English Literature.

GCSE or equivalent: English Language - Scottish National 5 - C Maths - Scottish National 5 - C.

Welsh Baccalaureate

Overall: Pass overall with ABB-BBB from a combination of the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate and two A-levels.

Required subjects: A-level English Literature or English Language.

Please note: A-level General Studies and A-level Critical Thinking are not accepted. Applicants taking an A-level science subject with the Science Practical Endorsement are Expected to pass the practical element. 

GCSE or equivalent: English Language and Mathematics ­– Numeracy as part of the Welsh Baccalaureate. Please check the A-level dropdown for the required GCSE levels.

Extended Project Qualification (EPQ)

Applicants taking the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) will receive our standard A-level offer for this programme, plus an alternate offer of one A-level grade lower, subject to achieving an A grade in the EPQ. The one grade reduction will not apply to any required subjects.

Applicants can only receive one grade reduction from the published grades, an EPQ grade reduction can’t be applied in addition to other grade reductions made through other schemes such as Contextual Admissions or In2Surrey.

Select your country

If you are studying for Australian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Australia.

Subject requirements

For courses that have specific-subject requirements at A-level:

Minimum standard in English and mathematics

If you are applying for an undergraduate course at Surrey, you must meet our minimum standards for English and mathematics.

• English : Year 10 Certificate, English C.
• Mathematics : Year 10 Certificate, Mathematics C.

Some courses may require higher grades in English and mathematics and/or additional subjects, so please check the requirements provided on individual course pages.

If you are studying for Austrian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Austria.

For courses that have specific subject requirements at A-level:

English : Matura (Reifeprüfung), English 2 (gut).

Mathematics :

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Azerbaijan.

If you are studying for a Bangladeshi Higher Secondary Certificate qualification, you must obtain a GPA of 5 out of 5 or 80% to apply for our undergraduate courses.

English : IELTS Academic required.

Mathematics : Higher Secondary Certificate/Intermediate Certificate, Mathematics 60-69.

If you are studying for Belgian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Belgium.

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Botswana.

The Certificado de Conclusão de Ensino Médio/Certificado de Conclusão de Segundo Grau is considered for entry onto our Foundation Years at Surrey. On the course page on our website, please check to see if there is an option for a Foundation Year before making a UCAS application.

• Cambridge O-levels Accepted with the same requirements as UK GCSEs.
• Cambridge A-levels Accepted with the same requirements as UK A-levels.

If you are studying for Bulgarian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Bulgaria.

If you are studying for Canadian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Canada. Please contact the admissions team if you are studying in Quebec, or an institution delivering the Quebec curriculum.

When a specific subject is required, that subject should be taken in grade 12 of the High School Diploma.

Minimum standard in English and Mathematics

If you are applying for an undergraduate course at Surrey, you must meet our minimum standards for English and Mathematics.

English : Applicants who have completed Grade 12 Canadian High School/Secondary School qualifications should achieve grade B or 75% in a grade 12 English module. Applicants who were not required to take grade 12 English, or did not reach the required grade, will be required to take a recognised English language test.

Mathematics : Grade 11 Secondary School Diploma, Mathematics Pass.

Some courses may require higher grades in English and Mathematics and/or additional subjects, so please check the requirements provided on individual course pages.

We accept the Chinese National University Entrance Examination (Gaokao) for direct entry to Year 1 UG programmes. Please see the table below for our grade equivalencies:

Where there is a subject-specific requirement, students should achieve the same % in that subject (e.g. if Maths is a requirement of a BBB subject, the student should achieve 74% in Maths). Senior Secondary School Graduation Certificate and IELTS required.

For further information on these entry requirements, please explore our dedicated  China site  (中文网站).

If you are studying for Croatian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Croatia.

If you are studying for Cypriot qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Cyprus.

Please note: If you are studying in Northern Cyprus and are looking for our Lise Diplomasi equivalents please visit our Turkey page.

If you are studying for Czech qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Czech Republic.

Mathematics:

If you are studying for Danish qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Denmark.

• English : Hojere Forberedelseseksamen (HF) / Hojere Handelseksamen (HHX) / Hojere Teknisk Eksamen (HTX) / Studentereksamen (STX) - 7. If you have taken the Folkeskolens 10 Klasseprove then we will require IELTs.

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Egypt.

If you are studying for Estonian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Estonia.

*If maths is required A-Level subject then the student must have studied "Extensive mathematics" (not Narrow Mathematics)*

• IELTS Academic required.

If you are studying for Finnish qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Finland.

Ylioppilastukintotodistus / Studentexamensbetyg - M / 5

If you are studying for French qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for France.

Where Mathematics is a required A-level subject, we expect you to study Spécialité Maths (Advanced Maths) in Terminale; however, where Mathematics is required as a second Science subject, we will accept Maths Complémentaires (General Maths) in Terminale. For Engineering courses that ask for Physics as a required subject, we will accept Engineering Sciences.

• Baccalauréat, English, 12.
• OIB, English, 10.

Alternatively, where Mathematics is not studied as part of the Baccalauréat, we will accept Mathematics studies until the end of Seconde, where evidence can be provided of 10/20 in school assessments. 

If you are studying for German qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Germany.

We do not accept the Ghanaian Senior Secondary School Certificate.

If you are studying for Greek qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Greece.

We welcome applicants with Pan-Hellenic qualifications, although these will not form part of any offer made.

If you are studying for a qualification in Hong Kong, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Hong Kong.

Associate degrees

If you have an associate degree, you can apply for first or second year entry.

For 1st year entrants:

• You must meet the subject requirements, either through the secondary or post-secondary studies

For 2nd year entrants:

• You must have covered the modules and content included in the first year of the Surrey degree course (as assessed by the appropriate admissions tutor). Your secondary qualifications (e.g. HKDSE) will also be taken into account during your application.

We do not include Liberal Studies in our offers.

If you do not meet the entry requirements, you can apply to study for an  International Foundation Year  at our  International Study Centre , which will prepare you for a full undergraduate degree course.

When A-level Maths is a required subject, the extended part of HKDSE Maths is required.

English : Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE), English 4.

Mathematics : Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE), Mathematics 3.

If you are studying for a Hungarian qualification, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Hungary.

If you are studying for an Indian qualification, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for India.

UK requirement (A-level) to Standard XII equivalent:

• Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) / Standard XII , English 70% from CBSE or ISC exam boards 
• Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) / Standard XII, English 80% from the majority of Indian state boards (excluding Haryana, Andhra Pradesh/Telangana/U.P./Bihar/Gujrat/Punjab).

40% in ​either of the following All India Standard X qualifications:

• All India Secondary School Examination (Exam board = Central Board of Secondary Education)
• Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (Exam board = Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi)

Alternatively, 50%   in Standard X from a state board.

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Indonesia.

If you are studying for an Iranian qualification, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Iran.

Award of the High School Diploma (Theoretical Stream, post-2019) studied between 4-5 years, with an overall grade of 14*. The Technical and Vocational stream and Work and Knowledge stream will not be acceptable for direct entry.

*dependent on subject requirements

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Iraq.

If you are studying for an Irish qualification, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Ireland.

We will look at the QQI Level 5 Certificate on a case by case basis depending on module relevance to chosen degree programme. Please contact Admissions for more information.

English and mathematics :

If you are studying for an Italian qualification, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Italy.

We do not accept the Upper Secondary School Certificate.

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Jordan.

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Kazakhstan.

Accepted qualifications

• Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Accepted with the same requirements as UK GCSEs.
• Cambridge Overseas Higher School Certificate (COHSC)
• East African Advanced Certificate of Education (EAACE)
• Kenya Advanced Certificate of Education (KACE) Accepted with the same requirements as UK A-levels.

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Kuwait.

If you are studying for a Latvian qualification, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Latvia.

We do not accept the General Secondary Education Certificate.

If you are studying for a Lithuanian qualification, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Lithuania.

If you are studying for qualifications from Luxembourg, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Luxembourg.

Mathematics : *Certificat de Fin d'études Moyennes*, Maths 40-47.

If you are studying for a Malaysian qualification, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses.

Suitably qualified applicants can be considered for Year 2 entry. Please refer enquiries to  [email protected] .

The table below shows grade equivalencies for Malaysia.

English : Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) English with CEFR grade B2 in all components OR Pre-2021, Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), 1119 Advanced English C.

Mathematics : Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), Mathematics C.

If you are studying for Maltese qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Malta.

Please note: you will need the Advanced and Intermediate, so for BBB in the UK A-levels we would ask for BB MEC Advanced and BBB MEC Intermediate.

English : Secondary Education Certificate, English, 3

We accept the following qualifications:

GCE O-levels Accepted with the same requirements as UK GCSEs.

Cambridge Overseas Higher School Certificate/GCE Advanced Level Accepted with the same requirements as UK A-levels.

We do not accept the Diplomă de Bacalaureat from Moldova for year 1 entry. However, a foundation course or evidence of further study will be considered.

If you are studying for qualifications in the Netherlands, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for the Netherlands.

English : VWO/Hoger Algemeen Voortgezet Onderwijs (HAVO) diploma 8

If you are studying for New Zealand qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for New Zealand.

English : National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), English, Achieved.

Mathematics : National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), Mathematics, Achieved.

We do not accept the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) from Nigeria. 

If you are studying for Norwegian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Norway.

English : Vitnemal for Videregående Oppleaering (VVO) / Vitnemål fra den Videregående Skole, English 4.

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Oman.

We consider a range of high school qualifications for entry onto our undergraduate courses.

Take a look at  country-specific information  for certain countries in the Middle East.

If you are a student from Brazil then take a look at the country-specific entry requirements .

Take a look at  country-specific information  for certain countries in South Asia.

Take a look at  country-specific information  for certain countries in South East Asia.

We do not accept the Intermediate/Higher Secondary Certificate from Pakistan.

If you are studying for Polish qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Poland.

English : IELTS Academic required.

Mathematics :  

If you are studying for Portuguese qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Portugal.

Where maths is a required subject at A-level, applicants will be required to achieve Certifcado de fim de Estudos Secundarios maths at 17 for A-level Grade A, 16 for Grade B and 15 for Grade C. 

All applicants for undergraduate courses must also meet a minimum standard in English and mathematics.

English : IELTS Academic required

If maths does not appear in the final Certifcado de fim de Estudos Secundarios (or other named qualifications above) or if the above grades were not met, we can accept maths in the Y9 high school transcript at the following grades:  

We do not accept Qatar school leaving qualifications.

If you are studying for Romanian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Romania.

We do not accept the Certificate of Secondary (Complete) General Education.

We do not accept the Tawjihiyah (General Secondary Education Certificate).

If you are studying for Singaporean qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Singapore.

Suitably qualified applicants can be considered for Year 2 entry. Please refer enquiries to  [email protected] .  

All applicants for undergraduate courses must also meet a minimum standard in English and Mathematics.

English : Singapore/Cambridge O-level English at grade C. The Singapore Integrated Programme satisfies the English requirement.

Mathematics : Singapore/Cambridge O-level mathematics at grade C. The Singapore Integrated Programme satisfies the mathematics requirement.

If you are studying for Slovakian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Slovakia.

Alternatively, where mathematics is not studied as part of the Maturitná skúška, we will accept mathematics in the Y11 or Y12 high school transcript at the same grades outlined above. 

If you are studying for Slovenian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Slovenia.

For courses that have specific subject requirements at A-level.

Subjects that ask specifically for mathematics or require English A-Level (English Literature BA or English Literature with Creative Writing BA):

For all other required subjects and where mathematics is a second science:

English : IELTS Academic required

Mathematics : 

If you are studying for South African qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for South Africa.

English : Senior Certificate (with matriculation endorsement), English 5.

Mathematics : Senior Certificate (with matriculation endorsement), Mathematical Literacy 5 or Maths 4.

We do not accept the High School Diploma.

If you are studying for Spanish qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Spain.

English : IELTS required

If you are studying for Sri Lankan qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Sri Lanka:

English : Cambridge O-level, English at grade C

Mathematics : Cambridge/Sri Lankan O-level, mathematics at grade C

If you are studying for Swedish qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Sweden.

GCSE English : 

Courses requiring GCSE English Language C (4) or B (5)  - English 6 grade C or English 5 grade B in one of the following qualifications:  

Avgångsbetyg  

Slutbetyg från Gymnasieskola  

Slutbetyg fran Grundskola  

Courses requiring GCSE English Language Grade A / 7 – English 6 at Grade B in one of the following qualifications: 

GCSE Mathematics

Courses requiring GCSE Mathematics Grade C (4) or B (5) – Maths at Grade E in one of the following qualifications:  

Courses requiring GCSE Mathematics Grade A / 7 – Maths at Grade D in one of the following qualifications  

If you are studying for Swiss qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Switzerland.

Subject equivalent

• Grade A: Matura 5.0
• Grade B: Matura 4.5

English and Mathematics :

For the minimum standard for GCSE Mathematics only we can also accept: 

• GCSE C Grade equivalent Certificat de Culture Generale - 4.0  
• GCSE B Grade equivalent Certificat de Culture Generale - 4.1  
• GCSE A Grade equivalent Certificat de Culture Generale  - 4.2  

If you studied the Certificat de Culture Generale then we may need an IELTS or equivalent to meet our minimum standards for English Language. 

We do not accept the Senior High School Leaving Certificate.

If you are studying for Tanzanian qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Tanzania.

• English Language: Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) at grade C.
• Mathematics: Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) at grade C.

We do not accept the Senior High School Leaving Certificate.

If you are studying for Turkish qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Turkiye.

Minimum standard in English and mathematics

Mathematics : Lise Bitirme Diplomasi Mathematics, 3, or 55% in Grade 10 or above. 

If you are studying for Ugandan qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. The table below shows grade equivalencies for Uganda.

English : Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), 6.

Mathematics : East African Certificate of Education (EACE), Mathematics 6, or, Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), 6.

We do not accept Ukrainian school leaving qualifications.

We do not accept school leaving qualifications.

If you are studying for American qualifications, you will need a suitable equivalent grade to apply for our undergraduate courses. We are able to consider a combination of any three test scores at the appropriate level (e.g. 2 APs and 1 SAT Subject Test). Honours and College level class content can also be reviewed on case-by-case basis by our Admissions Team.  

The table below shows grade equivalencies for the United States of America.

*Please see the latest update from the College Board regarding SAT Subject Tests.

If you are applying for an undergraduate course at Surrey, you must meet our minimum standards for English and Mathematics.

English : Grade 12 High School Diploma, English C.

Mathematics : Grade 12 High School Diploma, Mathematics C.

Alternatively, an overall SAT score of 1290/1600 (critical reading, writing and mathematics) with a minimum of 600 in each component.

We do not accept the Upper Secondary School Graduation Diploma.

Please refer to the entry requirements for the country where your High School qualifications originate from, or the relevant UK qualifications on the course page. For information on entry requirements based on an International Foundation Year, please contact the  admissions team with details about where you are taking your International Foundation Year, and the content you are studying.

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Algeria.

We do not accept the Zimbabwe General Certificate of Education at Ordinary level.

We do not accept school leaving qualifications from Morocco.

International students in the United Kingdom

English language requirements.

IELTS Academic: 6.5 overall with 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in each other element.

View the  other English language qualifications that we accept.

If you do not currently meet the level required for your programme, we offer intensive pre-sessional English language courses , designed to take you to the level of English ability and skill required for your studies here.

International Foundation Year

If you are an international student and you don’t meet the entry requirements for this degree, we offer the International Foundation Year at the Surrey International Study Centre. Upon successful completion, you can progress to this degree course.

Selection process

We normally make offers in terms of grades.

If you are a suitable candidate you will be invited to an applicant day. During your visit to the University you can find out more about the course and meet staff and students.

Recognition of prior learning

We recognise that many students enter their higher education course with valuable knowledge and skills developed through a range of professional, vocational and community contexts.  

If this applies to you, the recognition of prior learning (RPL) process may allow you to join a course without the formal entry requirements or enter your course at a point appropriate to your previous learning and experience.  

There are restrictions on RPL for some courses and fees may be payable for certain claims. Please see the code of practice for recognition of prior learning and prior credit: taught programmes (PDF) for further information.

Contextual offers

Did you know eligible students receive support through their application to Surrey, which could include a grade reduction on offer?

Fees and funding Open

Explore  UKCISA’s website for more information if you are unsure whether you are a UK or overseas student. View the  list of fees for all undergraduate courses.

The annual tuition fees for courses starting in September 2025

Payment schedule

• Students with Tuition Fee Loan: the Student Loans Company pay fees in line with their schedule.
• 50% payable 10 days after the invoice date (expected to be early October of each academic year)
• 50% in January of the same academic year.

The exact date(s) will be on invoices. Students on part-time programmes where fees are paid on a modular basis, cannot pay fees by instalment.

• Sponsored students: must provide us with valid sponsorship information that covers the period of study.

Professional training placement fees

If you are studying on a programme which contains a Professional Training placement year there will be a reduced fee for the academic year in which you undertake your placement. This is normally confirmed 12 to 18 months in advance, or once Government policy is determined.

Placements and study abroad Open

Our award-winning Professional Training placement scheme gives you the chance to spend a year in industry, either in the UK or abroad.

We have thousands of placement providers to choose from, most of which offer pay. So, become one of our many students who have had their lives and career choices transformed.

English literature and creative writing placements

Unusually for a course like this, we also offer the opportunity for you to do a Professional Training placement. You can gain experience in degree-related professions such as publishing, marketing, the media industries, teaching or arts administration.

Surrey was the first English course to introduce a Professional Training component, in 2008, and our experience as a leader in professional training will help you make the most of the year.

Some examples of organisations that participate in the scheme include:

• Brighton and Hove Independent Picture Production Company
• British Council
• Grand Connaught Rooms
• NBC Universal
• Toyota (PR and Press Communications)
• Winning Moves (a leading UK board game company).

A Professional Training placement will give you the opportunity to develop valuable transferable skills in analysis, reflection, communication and organisation.

Applying for placements

Students are generally not placed by the University. But we offer support and guidance throughout the process, with access to a vacancy site of placement opportunities.

Find out more about the application process .

Professional Training placement at Toyota

Discover more about English literature student Alice's placement experience within the social media team.

Study and work abroad

Studying at Surrey opens a world of opportunity. Take advantage of our study and work abroad  partnerships, explore the world, and expand your skills for the graduate job market. 

The opportunities abroad vary depending on the course, but options include study exchanges, work/research placements, summer programmes, and recent graduate internships. Financial support is available through various grants and bursaries, as well as Student Finance. 

Perhaps you would like to volunteer in India or learn about Brazilian business and culture in São Paulo during your summer holidays? With 140+ opportunities in 36+ different countries worldwide, there is something for everyone. 

Partner institutions

You have the opportunity to spend one semester or the full academic year on a study or work placement abroad. Places include:

• La Trobe University, Australia
• Monash University, Australia
• Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
• University of Sydney, Australia
• University of Wollongong, Australia
• Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Seoul National University, South Korea
• Cincinnati University, US
• North Carolina State University, US
• Northern Arizona University, US
• Texas Tech, US
• University of Central Florida, US
• University of North Texas, US.

If you’re more interested in a professional experience, you could have the chance to work with a partner organisation outside the UK.

Apply for your chosen course online through UCAS, with the following course and institution codes.

Institution code S85

Apply via UCAS

Related courses

English Literature BA (Hons)

English Literature and French BA (Hons)

English Literature and Spanish BA (Hons)

About the university of surrey.

Accommodation

We have a range of housing to suit all requirements and budgets. There are more than 6,000 rooms available (en-suite, single-sex, studio flat, shared or single).

Student life

At Surrey we offer a friendly university campus set in beautiful countryside, with the convenience and social life of bustling Guildford on your doorstep.

Need more information?

Contact our Admissions team or talk to a current University of Surrey student online.

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Terms and conditions

When you accept an offer to study at the University of Surrey, you are agreeing to follow our policies and procedures , student regulations , and terms and conditions .

We provide these terms and conditions in two stages:

• First when we make an offer.
• Second when students accept their offer and register to study with us (registration terms and conditions will vary depending on your course and academic year).

View our generic registration terms and conditions (PDF) for the 2023/24 academic year, as a guide on what to expect.

This online prospectus has been published in advance of the academic year to which it applies.

Whilst we have done everything possible to ensure this information is accurate, some changes may happen between publishing and the start of the course.

It is important to check this website for any updates before you apply for a course with us. Read our full disclaimer .

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• Transferring your study

• Also known as an undergraduate or bachelors degree.
• Internationally respected, universally understood.
• An essential requirement for many high-level jobs.
• Gain a thorough understanding of your subject – and the tools to investigate, think critically, form reasoned arguments, solve problems and communicate effectively in new contexts.
• Progress to higher level study, such as a postgraduate diploma or masters degree.
• Credits measure the student workload required for the successful completion of a module or qualification.

One credit represents about 10 hours of study over the duration of the course.

You are awarded credits after you have successfully completed a module.

For example, if you study a 60-credit module and successfully pass it, you will be awarded 60 credits.

BA (Honours) English Literature and Creative Writing

This degree offers a stimulating and wide-ranging introduction to English literature and creative writing. You’ll have the opportunity to study and interpret literature from different historical periods and diverse cultural settings – including translations – and to develop your writing skills in several genres including fiction; poetry; life writing; and scriptwriting for film, radio and stage. The emphasis is very much on practice through guided activities to develop a habit for writing which will involve producing several pieces of creative writing in the forms studied.

• Learn how to analyse a wide range of texts including fiction, poetry and drama
• Develop and reflect on your own writing and editorial practice in several genres
• Learn the skills of complex argument and critical commentary, which are highly valued in the workplace
• Introduces the world of publishing and the requirements of professional presentation 

Find out more about Entry requirements

This degree has three stages, each comprising 120 credits.

• You’ll start Stage 1 with a broad introduction to the arts and humanities before learning how culture affects the creative process of writing.
• Next, in Stage 2 , you'll focus on your creative writing and English literature studies with two compulsory modules.
• Finally, in Stage 3 , you’ll complete your degree with an advanced creative writing module and an advanced literature module.  

Prepare for OU study with an Access module

Stage 1 (120 credits).

In Stage 1 you'll encounter a variety of different times and places and engage with some fascinating people, art works, ideas and stories. This broad foundation will help you develop the skills and the confident, open approach you need to tackle more specialist modules at Stages 2 and 3.

Stage 2 (120 credits)

In Stage 2 you’ll be introduced to the creative process, develop your fiction, poetry and life writing skills, and learn about the publishing process. You’ll also choose between looking at whether literature matters by drawing on a range of literary texts and finding out about the ways in which writers of fiction have put together their stories.

Stage 3 (120 credits)

At Stage 3 you’ll develop your writing ability, learning how to sustain longer, more complex works of fiction, life writing and poetry. You'll also learn how to write dramatic scripts for different media. This final stage gives you a choice between two different periods in English literature to focus on.  

We regularly review our curriculum; therefore, the qualification described on this page – including its availability, its structure, and available modules – may change over time. If we make changes to this qualification, we’ll update this page as soon as possible. Once you’ve registered or are studying this qualification, where practicable, we’ll inform you in good time of any upcoming changes. If you’d like to know more about the circumstances in which the University might make changes to the curriculum, see our Academic Regulations or contact us . This description was last updated on 19 March 2024 .

Accessibility

Our qualifications are as accessible as possible, and we have a comprehensive range of support services. Our BA (Honours) English Literature and Creative Writing uses a variety of study materials and includes the following elements:

• Online study – most modules are online; some have a mix of printed and online material. Online learning resources could include websites, audio/video, and interactive activities
• Pre-determined schedules – we’ll help you to develop your time-management skills
• Assessment in the form of short-answer questions and essays
• Feedback – continuous assessment includes feedback from your tutor and using this to improve your performance
• Using and producing diagrams and screenshots
• Finding external/third-party material online
• Accessing online catalogues and databases
• Specialist material, such as films and dramatic scripts for different media
• Mathematical and scientific expressions, notations and associated techniques
• Online tutorials

Every module has its own Accessibility Statement with more detailed accessibility information – you’ll find these on individual module descriptions. Visit our  Disability support  page to learn about our services.

Learning outcomes, teaching and assessment

This qualification develops your learning in four main areas:

• Knowledge and understanding
• Cognitive skills
• Practical and professional skills

The level and depth of your learning gradually increases as you work through the qualification. You’ll be supported throughout by the OU’s unique style of teaching and assessment – which includes a personal tutor to guide and comment on your work; top quality course texts; elearning resources like podcasts, interactive media and online materials; tutorial groups and community forums.

Credit transfer

If you have already studied at university level, you may be able to count it towards your Open University qualification – which could save you time and money by reducing the number of modules you need to study. At the OU we call this credit transfer.

It’s not just university study that can be considered, you can also transfer study from a wide range of professional or vocational qualifications such as HNCs and HNDs.

You should apply for credit transfer before you register, at least 4 weeks before the registration closing date. We will need to know what you studied, where and when and you will need to provide evidence of your previous study.

For more details of when you will need to apply by and to download an application form, visit our Credit Transfer website.

Classification of your degree

On successfully completing this course, we’ll award you our BA (Honours) English Literature and Creative Writing.

The class of honours (first, upper-second, lower-second or third) will depend on your grades at Stages 2 and 3.

You’ll have the opportunity to attend a degree ceremony.

If you intend to use your Open University qualifications to seek work or undertake further study outside the UK, we recommend checking whether your intended qualification will meet local requirements for your chosen career. Find out more about international recognition of Open University qualifications .

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the qualification-specific regulations below and the academic regulations that are available on our Student Policies and Regulations  website. 

• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) English Literature and Creative Writing

Compare this course

There are no formal entry requirements for this qualification.

At The Open University we believe education should be open to all , so we provide a high-quality university education to anyone who wishes to realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential.

Even though there are no entry requirements, there are some skills that you'll need to succeed. If you're not quite ready for OU study we can guide you to resources that prepare you, many of which are free.

Answer a few quick questions to check whether you're ready for study success

How much time do I need?

• Most of our students study part time, completing 60 credits a year .
• This will usually mean studying for 16–18 hours a week .

Find out if you have enough time to study with our time planner

Preparing for study with an Access module

Students who start their study with an Access module are more likely to be successful when they advance to Stage 1 of their qualification. They’re specially designed to give you a gentle introduction to OU study, boost confidence in your study skills, and help you gain a broad overview of your chosen subject area.

You’ll also benefit from:

• feedback from your tutor through regular one-to-one phone tutorials
• support from a dedicated team throughout your study
• detailed written feedback on your work.

Arts and languages Access module

What you will study.

View full details of Arts and languages Access module

Fees and funding in England

80% of our students pay nothing upfront by financing their studies with a student loan.

Tuition fee

Years of  study.

Part-time study gives you the flexibility to balance other commitments with study.

You’ll study for around 16–18 hours a week.

Full-time study enables you to complete your course over a shorter time.

You’ll study for around 32–36 hours a week.

Because OU study is flexible, you don’t have to stick to just part-time or full-time study. You can choose to study more or less each year to suit you.

Most OU students study part-time.

Because OU study is flexible, you don’t have to stick to just part-time study. You can vary the amount of study you take on each year. That means you can gain your qualification in a timeframe that works for you.

3 years 6 years

Current fee per year in England

£7,272* £3,636*

How we worked out the cost

A degree is worth 360 credits. The fee per year is based on studying 60 credits per year for 6 years. A degree is worth 360 credits. The fee per year is based on studying 120 credits per year for 3 years.

Total fee for qualification at current prices

You’ll fund your modules as you study them – you won’t have to pay for your whole qualification up front

That’s 21% less than the cost of an equivalent qualification offered at most other universities in England.

*The fee information provided here is valid for modules starting before 31 July 2025. Fees typically increase annually. In England, fees are subject to the part-time fee limit, as set out in section C of the University's Fee Rules .

What are my funding options?

There are several ways to fund your study, often without paying anything upfront.

Student loan

The most common way for our students to fund their study.

• A student loan is used by 80% of our students.
• It’s not means-tested and there’s no age limit.
• You don’t pay anything upfront. Student Finance England pay your fees directly to the OU for you.
• You won’t pay back a penny until you earn over £25,000.
• The amount you repay is tied to how much you earn. For example, if you earn £27,000 you’ll pay just £15.00 per month.

Other options

Open university student budget account (ousba).

Repay in monthly instalments while you study.

Credit/debit card or bank transfer

Pay before each module starts. You can also combine card or bank transfer payments with other payment methods.

More than 1 in 10 OU students are sponsored by their employer.

Enhanced Learning Credits (ELCs)

If you’re a serving member of the British Armed Forces (or you’ve recently left), you may be eligible to use ELCs to cover up to 100% of your course fees.

Which funding options could I be eligible for?

To find out what funding options are available you need to tell us:

• how many credits you want to study
• if you already hold a degree
• if your household is in receipt of benefits
• about your household income
• if you are employed
• if you are a member of the British forces overseas

How many credits are you planning to study per year?

Do you already hold a degree, was your previous degree in the same subject you wish to study now, was it achieved in the last 5 years, are you employed, are you a member of british forces posted overseas.

British Forces

• If you have a BFPO address, you are only eligible for UK course fees if you are a currently serving member of the British armed forces and you're temporarily and unavoidably working abroad. Other students using BFPO addresses should contact us on +44 (0)300 303 5303 for UK fee eligibility to be assessed.

*The fee information provided above is valid for modules starting before 31 July 2025. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules .

Other costs to think about

Your course fees cover your tuition, assessment and study materials, but there are still a few additional costs that can come with studying. If your income is less than £25,000 or you receive a qualifying benefit, you could get help with some of these costs after you start studying.

• You’ll need a computer and the internet to access our learning resources and to participate in online tutorials.

Additional support

You may be eligible for:

• help with study-related costs like set books and internet access
• a free introductory Access module to build your confidence and skills
• funding to study an OU qualification for free from our Carers’ Scholarships Fund if you are, or have recently been, an unpaid carer
• a Carers’ Bursary towards study-related costs if you provide unpaid care to a friend or family member
• a Care Experienced Bursary of £250 towards study-related costs if you’ve previously been, or are currently, in care
• a Care Experienced Scholarship to study an OU qualification for free if you're care experienced and aged 25 and under
• a Sanctuary Scholarship to study an OU qualification for free if you’ve been displaced from your homeland for political, economic, ethnic, environmental, or human rights pressures
• funding from our Scholarship for Black Students to study an OU qualification for free if you identify as being from a Black background

If you have a disability

• The Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is a government grant to cover study support costs if you have a disability. It’s not means-tested, and there’s no age limit. Visit our Supporting students with disabilities page to find out more.
• If your disability is a result of being injured in, or due to, military service, you could be eligible for our Disabled Veterans’ Scholarship Fund .

Need more information?

Talk through your funding options with one of our advisors, save money with the open university.

Compare the cost of studying at the OU with other campus-based universities in England.

*Based on maximum chargeable fees for 24/25 academic year.

**The fee information provided here is valid for modules starting before 31 July 2025. Fees typically increase annually. In England, fees are subject to the part-time fee limit, as set out in section C of the University's Fee Rules .

How will I study this course?

With our unique approach to distance learning, you can study from home, work or on the move.

You’ll have some assessment deadlines to meet, but otherwise, you’ll be free to study at the times that suit you, fitting your learning around work, family, and social life.

For each of your modules, you’ll use either just online resources or a mix of online and printed materials.

Each module you study will have a module website with

• a week-by-week study planner, giving you a step-by-step guide through your studies
• course materials such as reading, videos, recordings, and self-assessed activities
• module forums for discussions and collaborative activities with other students
• details of each assignment and their due dates
• a tutorial booking system, online tutorial rooms, and your tutor’s contact details
• online versions of some printed module materials and resources.

If you have additional needs, we can also provide most module materials in alternative formats. Find out more about materials on our accessibility webpage .

See how our module websites work.

Tutor support

Student, Ffion, describes why she chose the OU and how she is using her degree to progress herself further in a career she loves.

You’ll have a tutor for each module, who will introduce themselves before the module begins.

Throughout the module, they will:

• mark your assignments and give feedback to help you improve
• guide you to learning resources
• support you, whether with general study skills or help with a specific topic.

Tutorials usually take place online, and they’re always optional.

Online tutorials are live presentations with module tutors in dedicated online tutorial rooms and are sometimes recorded.

Our assessments are all designed to reinforce your learning and help you show your understanding of the topics. The mix of assessment methods will vary between modules.

Computer-Marked Assignments

• Usually, a series of online, multiple-choice questions.

Tutor-Marked Assignments

• You’ll have a number of these throughout each module, each with a submission deadline.
• They can be made up of essays, questions, experiments or something else to test your understanding of what you have learned.
• Your tutor will mark and return them to you with detailed feedback.

End-of-Module Assessments

• The final, marked piece of work on most modules.
• Modules with an end-of-module assessment won’t usually have an exam.
• Some modules end with an exam. You’ll be given time to revise and prepare.
• You’ll be given your exam date at least 5 months in advance.
• Most exams take place remotely, and you will complete them at home or at an alternative location.
• If a module requires you to take a face-to-face exam, this will be made clear in the module description, and you will be required to take your exam in person at one of our exam centres.

Progressing to a point where I felt more comfortable writing my assignments, and having my scores reflecting that, made me quite happy because it showed the hard work was being rewarded. Patrick ‘Ricky’ Skene, BSc (Hons) Sport, Fitness and Coaching

Other support and resources

Throughout your studies, you’ll have access to our subject-specific Student Support Teams.

They’ll help you with any general questions about your study and updates to your OU account.

To help with your studies, you’ll also have access to:

• our online library, with high-quality online resources to support your study
• other university libraries in the UK and Ireland
• the online Help Centre, which has general information about OU study and support, along with study skills advice
• free Microsoft Office 365 software
• IT and computing support from our Computing Helpdesk.

Find out more about student support and being a part of the OU community.

Having a course that was really varied and studying in a style that worked for Nick, was key to him launching his own business and becoming an entrepreneur.

Skills for career development

Studying English literature and creative writing will equip you with an adaptable set of skills that can give entry to a vast range of occupations, leading in a number of career directions. You’ll learn to evaluate and assimilate information in constructing an argument; and acquire skills of creative and critical thinking, analysis, and communication that are much in demand in the workplace. You’ll also sharpen up essential writing and IT skills. These are key skills that are crucial to many different kinds of complex organisations, and are greatly sought after in the world beyond study – whether you’re already working, volunteering, or changing career.

Career relevance

The breadth of study and the range of analysis, combined with training in clear thinking and communication, make this degree course relevant to a wide variety of careers, including:

• public administration, local government, the civil service, art institutions, and social services
• advertising, journalism, publishing, creative industries and public relations
• business, banking and retail
• human resources
• charities and campaigning.

Other careers

Many graduate-level jobs are open to graduates of any discipline, particularly in business, finance, management consultancy and the public sector. Some careers may require further study, training and/or work experience beyond your degree.

Exploring your options

Once you register with us (and for up to three years after you finish your studies), you’ll have full access to our careers service for a wide range of information and advice. This includes online forums, website, interview simulation, vacancy service as well as the option to email or speak to a careers adviser. Some areas of the careers service website are available for you to see now , including help with looking for and applying for jobs. You can also read more general information about how OU study enhances your career .

In the meantime if you want to do some research around this qualification and where it might take you, we’ve put together a list of relevant job titles as a starting point. Some careers may require further study, training and/or work experience beyond your degree:

• teacher/lecturer
• tourism officer
• civil servant
• local government and NHS management
• advertising account manager
• marketing officer
• public relations manager
• media researcher
• charity campaigner
• retail manager
• business and HR management
• information archivist.

Register for this course

• Oct 2024 - Registration closes 05/09/2024
• Feb 2025 - Registration closes 09/01/2025

Request your Arts and Humanities prospectus

Our prospectuses help you choose your course, understand what it's like to be an OU student and register for study.

Request prospectus

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Master's in Creative Writing Online MA Degree Program

Earn a Master's in Creative Writing

• $637/credit (36 credits)
• Inclusive creative writing community
• 24/7 online access – attend class at your convenience
• 100% online – no residency required
• 4 genre options for concentrations
• Complete in as few as 15 months, or at your own pace

Master's in Creative Writing Online Program Overview

Ignite your imagination and jump-start your professional writing career with a Master of Arts (MA) in English and Creative Writing online at Southern New Hampshire University. Learn to use the written word to effectively tell your story and share your ideas with the world. By studying literature and the way accomplished authors have perfected their art, you'll be prepared to enter a number of industries as a creative writer. 

This English and creative writing graduate program fosters your imagination and creativity with a perfect balance of critical analysis and craft, along with an emphasis on literary theory and the history of the English language. You also have the freedom to choose from 4 genre concentrations or to combine your choice of genre courses if, for example, you're interested in both fiction and screenwriting.

This specialized creative writing master's degree can help you develop an ability to communicate in any career path you choose to follow, including:

• Marketing and communications

If you've always dreamed of starting your own novel, writing a collection of poetry or developing your screenplay, you'll gain the foundation you need through this program.

At the end of the program, you'll either complete a creative thesis or submit a portfolio of creative writing, along with a retrospective essay.

.st0{fill:#21386D;} What You'll Learn

• Integrate form, language and literary works into writing style and voice
• Expand upon your own creative process
• Create original literary works of publishable quality
• Reflect on goals, process and ethos as a creative writer
• Use technology as a tool to stylize and promote creative work

.cls-1 { fill: #21386d; } How You'll Learn

At SNHU, you'll get support from day 1 to graduation and beyond. And with no set class times, 24/7 access to the online classroom and helpful learning resources along the way, you'll have everything you need to reach your goals.

Concentration Options

You'll also have the option to master a specialized skill set with one of our 4 genre-focused concentrations .

Fiction Literature has long been a source of inspiration, both for readers and writers. In Southern New Hampshire University's online MA in English and Creative Writing with a concentration in Fiction degree, you can find your creative voice and tell your story. Your knowledge can grow beyond a basic understanding of plot building, narrative, voice and character as you push your creative boundaries. Hone your craft for the kind of fiction you've always dreamed of bringing to life through novels, short stories, children's literature and more. In this degree program, you'll have the opportunity to explore whichever genres in fiction pique your interest, from horror and sci-fi to fantasy, young adult, romance and more.  The art of storytelling has deep historical and societal roots, and it is critical to cross-cultural communication. In your MA in Creative Writing online degree program, you’ll study the work of published writers to help you develop your own creative writing skills. You’ll focus on why authors make specific creative decisions to develop a deeper understanding of fiction in all of its forms, all while writing your own works of fiction. If you decide to pursue this concentration, you'll take a capstone course designed around completing your thesis in your fiction genre of choice. At the culmination of your coursework, you’ll create your own manuscript and apply what you've learned about your own creative voice to your work. If you feel it's time to put pen to paper to tell a tale, this program is for you. "I chose the fiction concentration [because] I believe it will give me a wider range in skills and training that will make me more attractive as a writer," said student Joshua Yarbrough . "Great and imaginative storytelling is always needed, and by having this concentration, it will open doors and avenues in a wide range of projects." Career outlook: Whether you're looking to pen the next great fiction novel, or you'd like to specialize in short stories that capture the imagination for a period of time, this concentration can give you the tools you need to become successful in your field. The MA in English and Creative Writing with a concentration in Fiction can also lead to numerous career opportunities, as this program does more than just expose you to literature and help you develop new writing skills. You can apply the creative skills you gain to any profession, from scriptwriting to marketing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the median annual wage for writers and authors was $73,150 in 2022. 1 Courses include: Fiction Fundamentals Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Other Popular Fiction Fiction Thesis Writing Fiction Thesis Completion Request Info Apply Now Nonfiction In the MA in English & Creative Writing with a concentration in Nonfiction degree, you'll learn how and why writers craft nonfiction narratives. These tools can help you develop factual material based on research and experiences of your own - or someone else's. The creative writing master's degree can help you gain insights into publishing, broadcasting and professional production while you explore your creative boundaries. At the culmination of the program, you'll develop your own professional-quality piece of nonfiction, one that takes you deep into subjects that matter to you and helps you develop the skills you need for great storytelling. MA English & Creative Writing nonfiction graduate Alec Biron '17 '21G particularly enjoyed the combined emphasis on creative writing and literature. "While the curriculum allowed me to select a unique genre of creative writing to develop my nonfiction thesis," he said, "it also allowed me to explore traditional forms of literature that I love, such as medieval British and feminist genres." Career outlook: Nonfiction is the art of telling real stories - ones that people can learn from, relate to and understand. It covers a wide range of styles and subjects, encompassing everything from personal essays, autobiographical writing and memoirs, to marketing, travel writing and magazine features. Given the many career paths you could take by adding a concentration in nonfiction writing to your degree, it's worth noting some potential career paths you could explore. During a time when remote work is on the rise, you could consider a career writing freelance nonfiction stories for traditional print magazines and digital publications. Or, if telling stories for brands excites you, you could work in advertising as a copywriter and see your words on websites, billboards, emails, commercials and other types of advertisements. "Employers have been impressed by not only my achievement of a master’s degree, but also by the publications I've subsequently written for following my education," said Biron. If you like finding ways to make factual yet complex topics more digestible, you may enjoy the role of technical writer. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, technical writers earned a median annual salary of $79,960 in 2022. 1 Courses include: Non-Fiction Fundamentals Non-Fiction Thesis Writing Non-Fiction Thesis Completion Request Info Apply Now Poetry Develop the skills you need to convey your poetic vision with a MA in English and Creative Writing with a concentration in Poetry . The poetry concentration within our online creative writing graduate program can take you to a new level of analysis, appreciation and understanding of this art form. Foster your love of verse with the inspiration, passion and creative peer collaboration that only SNHU's concentration in poetry can bring. This curriculum focuses your study of literature on a genre where every word and line counts. Here, you'll be able to use your imagination to create imagery that moves and inspires readers and writers alike. This creative writing graduate program challenges you to gain an appreciation for how the unique craft and vision of poetry is critical to learning to think, understand and communicate with the world at large. Throughout this online program, you’ll broaden your understanding of the art of poetry. You'll also dive deeper into structure, tone and rhythm while analyzing the work of renowned poets. Upon completion of the program, you’ll develop your own manuscript of poetry, one that allows you to expand on subjects you're passionate about. "I chose a poetry concentration because I am a poet at heart, and my career revolves heavily around creative writing, specifically poetry and accessible arts programming," said NaBeela Washington '21G . "I wanted to make sure that my studies preserved time to truly focus on poetry and developing my manuscript and network and connection to other authors." Career outlook: Whether it's getting your own poetry published or becoming the next great poet laureate that interests you, a career in poetry is sure to be one filled with passion for your work. You could work for nonprofits to promote local poetry in your area, or become the poetry curator for an array of journals, magazines and even bookstores. And the ability to write clever, concise and compelling copy is also a great fit for advertising and marketing positions. "Before SNHU, I hadn’t been published since middle school," said Washington. "And before completing the program, I would be invited to read my work at a Poetry Series in Takoma Park, MD; I would start a literary journal, Lucky Jefferson, and I would go on to be published several more times in publications like The Cincinnati Review and The Washington Writers’ Publishing House, even winning an award for my journal and building a network of more than 6,000 writers and artists." Her list of accomplishments doesn't stop there. "I’ve been invited to speak on panels about my work in the literary world as well as to help found a roundtable for Editors of Color," she said. "It's really nice realizing that I could accomplish my goals and that I believed in myself." Courses include: Poetry Fundamentals Poetry Thesis Writing Poetry Thesis Completion Request Info Apply Now Screenwriting We live in an increasingly visual society. The online Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing with a concentration in Screenwriting program at Southern New Hampshire University is an advanced exploration of the world of film and video, from shorts and episodic serials to feature-length blockbusters and documentaries. This concentration is based on a comprehensive study of film, with a special focus on story structure, character development and creative writing. At the culmination of the degree program, you'll have developed your own screenplay that you can then share with others and put out into the world if you so choose. While an understanding and analysis of literature – whatever the genre – is at the core of this MA degree, the screenwriting concentration places a special emphasis on visual storytelling. Designed by experienced and distinguished faculty, this master’s in screenwriting program can give you a powerful understanding of how story, character, theme, action, visuals and dialogue intertwine to create an immersive experience. In this concentration, you'll also have the opportunity to work closely with peers and faculty to workshop your pieces, which can help push your creative work to new heights. Take it from José Roldan Jr. '17G who, with the support of his friends, family and his SNHU advisor, was able to enroll in the online MA in English and Creative Writing with a concentration in Screenwriting program while balancing his full-time job and full-time performance schedule, along with additional acting gigs and auditions.  "That support just allowed me the strength to say, 'You know what? I can get this done. There are so many people who believe in me to do it, that I can get it done,'" Roldan said. "It wasn't easy, but it's possible. It's possible." Career outlook: Whether you dream of writing for the big screen one day or writing scripts at a regional level, in the screenwriting concentration you can hone your craft for television, commercials, news, feature films, short films and even video games. There are multiple ways you could use this degree in the media world, from adapting an existing work into a movie or writing your own script, to working closely with producers on funding and producing projects. While the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the median annual wage for writers and authors was $73,150 in 2022, it also reports that producers and directors earned a median annual wage of $85,320 the same year. 1 Courses include: Screenwriting Fundamentals Fiction and Film Screenwriting Thesis Writing Screenwriting Thesis Completion Request Info Apply Now if (typeof accordionGroup === "undefined") { window.accordionGroup = new accordion(); } accordionGroup.init(document.getElementById('322677cfabe042d9a55551dc7b079012')); Career Outlook

Whether it's telling your story or telling someone else's, your online master's in creative writing can equip you with detailed knowledge about the worlds of publishing, communications, copywriting and the role of the professional writer. As world markets continue to shift toward a demand for online education and digital media technology, the technical skills learned in this program should continue to be in demand for a long time. The enhanced writing and communication skills you'll develop can be applied to many professions, from publishing, print and film to journalism and marketing.

Read more about Jacob Powers in this Q&A.

"The major takeaway I have gotten from my classes is that there is a viable career in literature, creative writing, and English," said student Joshua Yarbrough . "I feel confident in having the necessary skills to either work for myself or an employer and the training I have received at SNHU has made it possible."

.cls-1 { fill: #21386d; } Job Growth

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment of writers and authors is projected to grow 4% – about as fast as average for all occupations –  through 2032. 1

.cls-1 { fill: #21386d; } Salary

The BLS reports the median wage for writers and authors was $73,150 in 2022. 1

Understanding the Numbers When reviewing job growth and salary information, it’s important to remember that actual numbers can vary due to many different factors — like years of experience in the role, industry of employment, geographic location, worker skill and economic conditions. Cited projections do not guarantee actual salary or job growth.

The master's in creative writing is also ideal if you're interested in pursuing your PhD or teaching at the collegiate level. Additionally, the MA in Creative Writing is also a great option for high school instructors or other educators who wish to level up their salaries, as well as those whose districts require a Master of Arts for sustained career growth.

"I believe there’s a nice balance here for the program — for students who wish to pursue publication, we offer the tools, resources and faculty to help guide them. For students who wish to advance in their current career, or learn creative writing skills but also strengthen other skills (like editing, proofreading, etc.), the program offers that, as well," Powers said.

SNHU does not guarantee that the completion of this program will result in endorsements or rank and salary increases for teachers and strongly encourages interested individuals to contact their state education licensure board prior to enrolling. SNHU provides additional information for education-related outcomes on our Licensure and Certification Disclosures page.

Where Could You Work?

Graduates of the online master's in English and creative writing program will find that, according to the BLS¹, there is opportunity for employment in a variety of fields, including:

Self-Employment

Tech companies, public relations, start your journey toward an online english and creative writing degree, why snhu for your master's in creative writing flexible with no set class meeting times, you can learn on your schedule and access online course materials 24/7. affordable as part of our mission to make higher education more accessible, we’re committed to keeping our tuition rates low. in fact, we offer some of the lowest online tuition rates in the nation. prior coursework and work experience could also help you save time and money. snhu’s transfer policy  allows you to transfer up to 12 credits from your previous institution. you could also earn college credit for previous work experience . respected founded in 1932 , southern new hampshire university is a private, nonprofit institution with over 160,000 graduates across the country. snhu is accredited by the new england commission of higher education (neche), a regional accreditor, which advocates for institutional improvement and public assurance of quality.  recently, snhu has been nationally recognized for leading the way toward more innovative, affordable and achievable education: “most innovative” regional university honors from u.s. news & world report each year since 2015 a $1 million grant from google.org to explore soft skills assessments for high-need youth recognition as a 2017 digital learning innovator by the online learning consortium network at southern new hampshire university, you'll have access to a powerful network of more than 300,000 students, alumni and staff that can help support you long after graduation. our instructors offer relevant, real-world expertise to help you understand and navigate the field. plus, with our growing, nationwide alumni network, you'll have the potential to tap into a number of internship and career opportunities. 93.6% of online students would recommend snhu (according to a 2022 survey with 17,000+ respondents). discover why snhu may be right for you . admission requirements expanding access to quality higher education means removing the barriers that may stand between you and your degree. that’s why you can apply at any time and get a decision within days of submitting all required materials: completed free application undergraduate transcripts, which we can retrieve for you by submitting a transcript request form acceptance decisions are made on a rolling basis throughout the year for our 5 graduate terms . master's degree candidates must also submit a personal statement. students with an undergraduate gpa below 2.75 are eligible for provisional acceptance. how to apply if you’re ready to apply, follow these simple steps to get the process going: complete free graduate application submit undergraduate transcripts work with an admission counselor  to explore financial options  and walk through application process if (typeof accordiongroup === "undefined") { window.accordiongroup = new accordion(); } accordiongroup.init(document.getelementbyid('e835202be13f4497bc29372de09b8f42')); get the skills you need.

Alec Biron '17 '21G

"The skills that I learned in nonfiction writing have helped me to build a career in freelance journalism and content writing."

Courses & Curriculum

The master's in creative writing online exposes you to powerful examples of writing and provides you with an outlet to refine your skills as a writer. SNHU is home to the New Hampshire Writer’s Project and is also a destination for nationally recognized writers who perform readings and participate in workshops and lectures. This can give you additional context and insight into the industry you'll eventually be joining. All of our courses were also created by subject matter experts in their field, many of whom are critically acclaimed writers themselves.

Not only are the courses created by experts, they're taught by them, too. Just ask student Joshua Yarbrough .

"I have worked with professors who are well versed and accomplished in their field," he said. "They have provided valuable feedback to me in terms of preparing for my next steps as a writer and educator."

If you're looking for a degree program with collaboration built in, look no further. The online MA in English and Creative Writing has an added emphasis on peer workshops for additional feedback. Each concentration requires students to take three workshops, so you'll have the chance to fine-tune your editing and proofreading skills both for your peers and for yourself.

You'll also be required to take one of two teaching courses, Seminar in Writing Instruction or Online Teaching Experience . This can give you a background for teaching creative writing or English composition, depending on which interests you more. As a whole, this degree program is highly customizable, allowing you to focus on what types of creative writing interest you most.

In addition to working on your writing craft, you'll take several literary courses that focus on analysis and reflection, while learning about the history of the publishing industry. This can give you the chance to sharpen your editing and professional communication skills, while also giving you the edge you need to advance your writing career.

Graduate Alec Biron '17 '21G agrees. "One course that stood out to me, in particular, was “The Editor”. This course was both writing and editing intensive, allowing us to review the work of our peers while optimizing our own narratives," he said. "The Editor went beyond simple proofreading, and taught me how to edit for structure, character development, syntax, language and tone."

You'll also have the choice of four literary genres:

• Screenwriting

Or, you can customize your program and study multiple genres.

What's more, there's plenty of opportunity to build your network and hone your craft outside of normal class time. Once enrolled, you'll have access to SNHUconnect, a community built exclusively for our online learners. With plenty of clubs and events at your disposal, you might find that the Creative Writing Review Club is right up your alley. Wrote a few poems and want a critique? Need an audience to run your plot ideas by? Here, you can share your nonfiction, fiction, poetry and screenplay works – and even seek peer revising if you desire.

Joan Garner

Joan Garner came from a family of activists. Now she’s earning her master’s in creative writing to write her family’s story.

“The classes that I am taking are helping me in writing the book by stretching my limitations as a writer,” she said.

Read Joan’s story.

Minimum Hardware Requirements Component Type   PC (Windows OS)   Apple (Mac OS)   Operating System  Currently supported operating system from Microsoft.   Currently supported operating system from Apple.  Memory (RAM)  8GB or higher  8GB or higher  Hard Drive  100GB or higher  100GB or higher  Antivirus Software  Required for campus students. Strongly recommended for online students.  Required for campus students. Strongly recommended for online students.  SNHU Purchase Programs  Visit Dell   Visit Apple   Internet/ Bandwidth  5 Mbps Download, 1 Mbps Upload and less than 100 ms Latency  5 Mbps Download, 1 Mbps Upload and less than 100 ms Latency  Notes:   Laptop or desktop?   Whichever you choose depends on your personal preference and work style, though laptops tend to offer more flexibility.  Note:   Chromebooks (Chrome OS) and iPads (iOS) do not meet the minimum requirements for coursework at SNHU. These offer limited functionality and do not work with some course technologies. They are not acceptable as the only device you use for coursework. While these devices are convenient and may be used for some course functions, they cannot be your primary device. SNHU does, however, have an affordable laptop option that it recommends: Dell Latitude 3301 with Windows 10.  Office 365 Pro Plus  is available free of charge to all SNHU students and faculty. The Office suite will remain free while you are a student at SNHU. Upon graduation you may convert to a paid subscription if you wish. Terms subject to change at Microsoft's discretion. Review system requirements for  Microsoft 365 plans  for business, education and government.  Antivirus software:  Check with your ISP as they may offer antivirus software free of charge to subscribers.  if (typeof accordionGroup === "undefined") { window.accordionGroup = new accordion(); } accordionGroup.init(document.getElementById('f756dce5bd874c61855f6f6e92d88470')); University Accreditation

Tuition & Fees

Tuition rates for SNHU's online degree programs are among the lowest in the nation. We offer a 25% tuition discount for U.S. service members, both full and part time, and the spouses of those on active duty.

Tuition rates are subject to change and are reviewed annually. *Note: students receiving this rate are not eligible for additional discounts.

Additional Costs: Course Materials ($ varies by course). Foundational courses may be required based on your undergraduate course history, which may result in additional cost.

Frequently Asked Questions

Actor Stephanie Gould Surprised Onstage With Diploma Delivery

Associate Dean of Liberal Arts Dr. Robert Denning: A Faculty Q&A

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1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, on the internet, at:

• https://www.bls.gov/OOH/media-and-communication/writers-and-authors.htm (viewed Oct. 25, 2023)
• https://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/technical-writers.htm (viewed Oct. 25, 2023)
• https://www.bls.gov/OOH/entertainment-and-sports/producers-and-directors.htm (viewed Oct. 25, 2023)

Cited projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions and do not guarantee actual job growth.

English Major

Jaredd Craig  

How did literature evolve from Chaucer to Toni Morrison, from a time before the printing press to our modern digital landscape?

Stanford’s English curriculum features a team-taught, yearlong core sequence that traces the big picture of literature’s development from the Middle Ages to the present. Each class offers a lively exploration of key literary themes, movements, and innovations. English majors also learn critical tools for analyzing literature through three broad course requirements, in poetry, narrative, and methodology. Students gain a contextual framework and are prepared to take the department’s wide range of electives.

Courses for the 2023-2024 academic year are available now! Find them here .

English Major Core Requirements

The English Department’s required core courses introduce you to a body of knowledge and fundamental skills that are essential for you to master if you are to flourish as a reader, writer, and critic. After taking a basic set of courses with your classmates, you should find yourself able to reflect in common with them on the enterprise of interpretation and expression, even as you pursue your particular interests and passions through elective course work.

ALL ENGLISH MAJORS ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE THE FOLLOWING CLASSES: 

• ENGLISH 160: Poetry and Poetics 
• ENGLISH 161: Narrative and Narrative Theory 
• One WISE class (ENG 5 Series) 
• 10 series 
• 11 series 
• 12 series 
• One pre-1800 historical literature class

JOSHUA COLEMAN

Emphases and Electives

The English major offers a number of emphases, which help you to focus your literary study in a particular area, whether you’re seeking to learn the art of creative writing, or to understand the philosophical power of literature.  Your chosen emphasis will help you to select a group of electives or cross-listed courses in other departments that give a coherent shape to your interests.

This field of study is not declared in Axess. It does not appear on either the official transcript or the diploma. This program provides for the interests of students who wish to understand the range and historical development of British, American and Anglophone literatures and a variety of critical methods by which their texts can be interpreted. The major emphasizes the study of literary forms and genres and theories of textual analysis. In addition to the degree requirements required of all majors and listed above, students must complete at least 35 additional units of courses consisting of:

• Seven additional approved elective courses, only one of which may be a creative writing course, chosen from among those offered by the Department of English. In place of one of these seven elective courses, students may choose one upper-division course in a foreign literature read in the original language.

This subplan is printed on the transcript and diploma and is elected in Axess. Students should meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies, awoloch [at] stanford.edu (Alex Woloch) , concerning the Literature and Philosophy focus. This track is for students who wish to explore interdisciplinary studies at the intersection of literature and philosophy while acquiring knowledge of the English language literary tradition as a whole. In addition to the degree requirements required of all majors and listed above, students must complete at least 40-50 additional units of approved courses including:

• PHIL 80 Mind, Matter, and Meaning (WIM): Prerequisite: introductory philosophy course.
• Gateway course: ENGLISH 81 Philosophy and Literature. This course should be taken as early as possible in the student's career, normally in the sophomore year.
• Aesthetics, Ethics, Political Philosophy: one course from PHIL 170 Ethical Theory series.
• Language, Mind, Metaphysics, and Epistemology: one course from PHIL 180 Metaphysics series.
• History of Philosophy: one course in the history of Philosophy, numbered above PHIL 100 Greek Philosophy.
• Two upper division courses of special relevance to the study of Philosophy and Literature. Both of these courses must be in the English department. A list of  approved courses  is available on the Philosophy and Literature web site.
• Two additional elective courses in the English department.
• One  capstone seminar  of relevance to the study of Philosophy and Literature.

This subplan is printed on the transcript and diploma and is elected in Axess. This track provides a focus in British and American literature with additional work in French literature; German literature; Italian literature; or Spanish literature. These subplans appear on the diploma as follows: English & French Literature, English & German Literature, English & Italian Literature, and English & Spanish Literature. In addition to the degree requirements required of all majors and listed above, students must complete at least 40 additional units of approved courses including:

• Four elective courses chosen from among those offered by the Department of English, one of which may be a creative writing course.
• A coherent program of four courses in the foreign language literature, read in the original language, approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies in English and by the relevant foreign language department.

This subplan is printed on the transcript and diploma and is elected in Axess. This program is intended for students who wish to combine the study of one broadly defined literary topic, period, genre, theme or problem with an interdisciplinary program of courses (generally chosen from one other discipline) relevant to that inquiry. These courses should form a coherent program and must be relevant to the focus of the courses chosen by the student to meet the requirement. Each of these courses must be approved in advance by the Interdisciplinary Program Director. In addition to the degree requirements required of all majors and listed above, students must complete at least 40 additional units of approved courses including:

• Five elective literature courses chosen from among those offered by the Department of English. Students must select two of these courses in relation to their interdisciplinary focus.
• Three courses related to the area of inquiry. These courses may be chosen from disciplines such as anthropology, the arts (including the practice of one of the arts), classics, comparative literature, European or other literature, feminist studies, history, modern thought and literature, political science, and African American studies.
• In addition, students in this program must write at least one interdisciplinary paper. This may be ENGLISH 197, Senior Honors Essay; ENGLISH 199, Senior Independent Essay; ENGLISH 194 or 198, Individual Research; or a paper integrating the material in two courses the student is taking in two different disciplines.

For more information about the interdisciplinary emphasis,  please read these guidelines . 

This subplan is printed on the transcript and diploma and is elected in Axess.This program is designed for students who want a sound basic knowledge of the English literary tradition as a whole and at the same time want to develop skills in writing poetry or prose. In addition to the degree requirements required of all majors and listed above, students must complete at least 40 additional units of approved courses, in either the prose or poetry concentration:

English and Creative Writing (Prose)

• One beginning prose course: ENGLISH 90 series, Fiction Writing or ENGLISH 91 series, Creative Nonfiction
• One short story literature seminar
• One intermediate prose course: any ENGLISH 190 series or 191 series
• One beginning poetry course: ENGLISH 92 series, Reading and Writing Poetry 
• 20 units of elective literature courses (One of the courses may be fulfilled with a creative writing workshop)

English and Creative Writing (Poetry)

• One beginning poetry course: ENGLISH 92 series, Reading and Writing Poetry
• One literature course in poetry approved by a Creative Writing Professor
• One intermediate poetry course: any ENGLISH 192 series
• One beginning prose course: ENGLISH 90 series, Fiction Writing or ENGLISH 91 series, Creative Nonfiction (Can be fulfilled with a prose literature seminar)

Thought Catalog

Honors in English

Are you getting beyond the two-week, 6-8 page English paper? Have you wanted to challenge yourself to think deeply and to write at length? Are you curious about what it means to produce knowledge in English studies? Have you wondered what extended supervised research in English entails? Would you like to earn a capstone achievement to your degree?

If so, consider pursuing Honors.

What is the Honors Program?

The Honors Program in English is open to all undergraduate English majors regardless of career aspiration or post-graduation plans. Honors students have entered a wide variety of careers: medicine, law, business, marketing, journalism, industry, doctoral programs in English and other disciplines, teaching, and arts administration, to name a few. Students who complete the Honors Program are awarded the degree BAH (Bachelor of Arts with Honors).

The program involves intensive study of a research topic of your choosing supervised throughout your senior year by a faculty member and a graduate student mentor. With these one-on-one mentorships, you will produce a 40-60 page honors thesis and will develop supportive peer friendships with others in the Honors cohort. The Honors Program aims to be both an inspirational and aspirational forum for advanced literary study. It cultivates a lively intellectual environment within which you can test your ideas, germinate sophisticated critical approaches to historical and/or contemporary texts, and build interpretative, analytical and compositional skills that will have a lasting impact on your intellectual and professional life wherever the future takes you.

Interested students are invited to attend the English Honors Info Session on Thursday, February 29 at 12:00pm in the Terrace Room.

How do I apply?

Admission to the Honors Program is selective; the deadline for 2024-25 admission is  Friday, April 19th, 2024 at 4pm . 

Application Form

Application form must contain the following items:

• A one-to-two page proposal (see below)
• A writing sample from an English course
• A brief letter or email from one faculty member who has agreed to serve as thesis advisor
• The name of an additional faculty referee who could comment if necessary on your writing abilities
• An unofficial transcript (a cumulative 3.7 GPA in English is required, although the Honors Director will look at all compelling aspects of a candidate’s application) If you are unable to access your transcript, please email Alice Staveley, staveley [at] stanford.edu (staveley[at]stanford[dot]edu) .

What is a thesis proposal?

The thesis proposal should give your reader a strong sense of the intellectual merits of your project. What author(s) and text(s) do you wish to study? What particular critical arguments do you foresee interrogating by means of these texts? What historical period(s) will inform your research? What have you discovered already about this topic? What further questions or research avenues might you need to pursue to refine your approach?

Curriculum Details

• Once applicants are selected for admission to Honors in early May of their junior year, a more detailed prospectus with bibliography is due at the end of Spring quarter.
• Students accepted into the Honors Program may participate in the voluntary, fully funded Bing Honors College , a residential boot camp held every September for thesis writers across the university. Confirmed Honors students are invited to register online for Bing Honors College in May-June of their junior year.
• Honors students take 15 units of Honors in their senior year: 5 units (English 196A. Senior Honors Seminar) in Autumn + 10 thesis units (English 197. Senior Honors Essay) distributed over the Winter and Spring.
• Theses are due in early May . In mid-May, students present their research at a year-end department Colloquium open to friends, family, faculty, mentors, and the wider Stanford community. Plan to invite those who have supported you throughout your undergraduate years!

Recent Thesis Titles

• Spools, Hats, and Handbags: Narrative Entropy in the Plays of Samuel Beckett
• “I Have a Story to Share”: The Personalization of the National Epic in  Moby-Dick  and  Heart of Darkness
• Spatial Setting, Malleable Maps: Los Angeles in Yamashita’s  Tropic of Orange
• “Instant Nostalgia”, or, Longing under Late Capitalism in Thomas Pynchon’s  Bleeding Edge
• Utterance in Exile: Monstrous Aesthetics in Old English Verse
• “by whyche they came to honour”: Reputation in Malory’s  Le Morte d"Arthur
• How Milton’s Rhythms Work
• Graced By Another: Gabriel Marcel and the Experience of Intersubjectivity In Flannery O’Connor’s  A Good Man Is Hard to Find
• Books vs. Bombs: Reading Objects in Michael Ondaatje’s  The English Patient
• Kincaid’s Carnival: Performance, Identity, and the Reader in  A Small Place
• Masks, Origins, and Copies in Chang-Rae Lee’s  Native Speaker
• The “African” Novel at Bookshelf’s Edge (and the Online Afterlife of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
• Magical Orality in Tess Uriza Holthe’s  When the Elephants Dance

Testimonials

Read what former honors students say about their experience:

“I look back on writing my thesis as one of my best Stanford experiences.” --Bhavya Mohan (‘06), Doctoral Student in Marketing at Harvard University

“Great program. The critical thinking skills I gained from the honors English program are surprisingly very useful in medical school.” --Anne Ritchie (‘08), Medical Student at UCSF

“I believe participating in honors absolutely helped me in my job search (even in a completely different field). Having it on my resume gave me confidence and usually made an impression on people I interviewed with. […] To anyone considering the honors program: Do it, do it, do it!” --Melinda Kilner (‘10), Process Designer at Inkling

“…students learn ways of thinking and self-confidence that stay with them throughout their life, beginning with the challenges of the first job searches and first job experiences. Still 6 years into my work, I consciously apply the skills I learned, and these have been vital to my ability to succeed.” --Edward Boenig-Liptsin (‘06), Program Manager at Google

“I remain immensely grateful for my experience in the honors program. I am currently pursuing a doctorate in another field after spending several years working as an art critic and editor—positions I no doubt would have been reluctant to assume, if not for the confidence I gained through writing a thesis.” --Joanna Fiduccia (‘06), Doctoral Student in Art History at UCLA

“I would wholeheartedly recommend the English honors program to anyone considering it. It enhanced my critical writing skills, taught me how to tackle a large research project, but more importantly, it was FUN.” --Aysha Pamukcu (‘07), Public Interest Lawyer & Editor

“[Honors] substantially influenced my ability to write, to consolidate a very large amount of information, to work with self-discipline, and to engage with a territory of critical writers and [their] works. Best of all, it gave me confidence that I CAN write coherently and with purpose at length!” --Rachel Kolb (‘12), Rhodes Scholar, Masters Student in Literature at Oxford University

“I think that participating in the honors program and being able to discuss a major independent research project made an impression on my post-graduate employers in the publishing industry.” --Alison Law (‘10), Production Editor at No Starch Press

How to think about Honors

Although students apply for honors in their junior year, if you are interested in the possibility of eventually applying, talk to your individual professors or the Honors Director, Alice Staveley, at any time during your undergraduate career from first year and beyond. Thesis topics are vast and various and can take many different forms. Think about what courses, writers, or ideas have most animated your imagination; what connections keep coming back for you across multiple platforms, inside or outside the classroom; what writers you have sampled and enjoyed, but whose lives and careers you wish to investigate more fully; parse the literary history or critical methods core courses to follow up with seminar courses that broaden your study of a particular theory, writer, theme, or historical period; take courses outside the department that might compliment your literary interests (for instance, a course on 19th century British history if you’re interested in the 19th century British novel, etc.). Drop by professors’ office hours! They are there waiting, eager, and willing to talk about any number of topics with you that, over time, may well become your thesis.

Literary texts do not live in a vacuum

They emerge from particular historical circumstances, they are influenced by earlier texts, and, if they are sufficiently strong, they change the literary tradition in which they are produced. That’s why our sequence of Historical Courses (English 10, 11, and 12) introduces you to some of the most important developments of English and American literature from its origins to the present.

A history of representing the self in words

Historical watersheds such as the invention of printing, the Protestant Reformation, the expansion of the British Empire, the Great War, and the creation of the internet; the rise and fall of genres such as romance, the epic, and the novel; the genesis of literary movements such as Humanism, Romanticism and Modernism -- all this and more is part of the story of English and American literature. By the time you have finished the historical sequence, you should have a good sense of what questions to ask yourself–and what contexts to research–when you read any text, from a Renaissance sonnet to a contemporary science fiction novel.

Harry Cunningham

Literary history in the big picture

In addition to our historical sequence, a pre-1800 course will offer indepth attention to a particular writer or historical question, or else will trace fundamental literary questions across a wide expanse of time, to highlight the nature and importance of historical change and the nature of literary development.  How has the idea of a theater changed from the York Corpus Christi play (15th c.) to Arthur Miller’s  Death of a Salesman  (1949)?  By encountering these and other topics, you should learn how the histories we tell depend on the questions we ask, the assumptions we bring to the historical record, and the archive we establish. You should also learn how much is at stake when we declare what is pre-modern, what is modern, and what is post-modern.

Mastering interpretive methods

Our methodology requirements, Poetry and Poetics and Narrative and Narrative Theory, introduce you to some of the most important interpretive methods we use to bring literary texts to life. In the first, you learn about poems as formal artifacts that tell their own history of human expression. In the second, you learn to think about story telling from a technical perspective. What is it? How does it work? How has it changed over time? In addition, a "Writing Intensive Seminar in English" (WISE) course will introduce you to a range of critical methods, while offering a writing-intensive experience in a small seminar environment. WISE courses also satisfy our Writing in the Major (WIM) requirement.

English Language & Creative Writing

On our English Language and Creative Writing course you’ll develop the skills and techniques you need to write in a whole range of genres. You’ll also study the history, use and application of English.

On this course we’ll help you to enhance your skills as a creative writer and gain experience of writing in a wide range of different styles and genres.

You’ll develop the skills and techniques you need to create new works in everything from science fiction and fantasy to fairy tales, horror, crime, and fiction for children and young adults. Along the way you’ll produce a variety of short stories, poetry, play scripts and more.

Our modules enable you to delve beneath the surface of language to explore the connections between sound and meaning, and understand how English has developed over time.

Why study with us

• 1 st in the UK overall Guardian University Guide (Creative Writing) 2023/24
• 2 nd in the UK for student satisfaction Complete University Guide (Creative Writing) 2023/24
• You will have opportunities to go on field trips to museums, archives and theatres – from the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon to Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage in the Lake District.
• You’ll have the chance to learn about careers in writing and the book trade from guest authors, literary agents, editors and publishers.
• Our unique English Language Skills Initiative for Employability (ELSIE) programme gives you opportunities to gain vital work experience in public relations, client publications, copywriting and other areas.

What you'll do

• Hear from guest speakers and guest expert insights into success in the writing profession and other related careers.
• Choose from a wide range of modules across different areas of language and linguistics.
• Interested in a teaching career? We have great links with schools across the region.

Compulsory modules

These modules are set and you have to study these as part of your course.

Story Shapes: Drama, Structure & Plot

Enable you to practice a variety of techniques for writing fiction and drama and reflect critically on your writing process Develop a critical and theoretical understanding of the ‘principles of story’ in historical and contemporary context Develop your ability to read, interpret and evaluate contemporary fiction and drama in light of the way it conforms to or challenges these principles Enable you to recognise the connections between fiction and drama as well as the unique challenges and possibilities of writing for page or performance.

Exploring Form and Genre

This module focuses on exploring diverse genres while fostering imaginative engagement. You'll also develop critical analysis and writing skills, fostering an understanding of language use within various contexts and encouraging self-reflective growth as a writer.

Meaning in Interaction

This module will explore different approaches to ‘meaning’, focusing on aspects of meaning at the level of text and discourse. The module will explore the relation between linguistic expressions, language users and contexts. You will apply knowledge of critical discourse analysis, conversation analysis and rhetorical theory to the analysis of short texts (newspapers, political discourse, forensic texts, etc.).

ELSIE (English Language Studies Initiative for Employability)

This module enables you to focus on your subject-specific writing and research skills. You'll also learn more about your personal learning styles and explore how to get the most out of your university experience. You'll learn about punctuation for proofreading and correction, academic writing, and career planning.

Sounds and Structures of English

This module is an introduction to the analysis of sounds, words and sentences. You will explore features of your own accent and learn how to represent Received Pronunciation in symbols. You will learn about traditional grammatical terminology, as taught on the National Curriculum for English, and how to analyse sentences into their component parts.

Optional modules

Depending on how many compulsory modules you take, you may be able to choose optional modules to make up your course.

Literary Landscapes

This module will develop your global writing analysis skills, with the option of creating original creative work. You'll explore modern approaches to portraying landscapes across various genres. Theoretical aspects cover literature's connections to place, environmental concerns, and globalisation. You'll hone English language skills for academic writing and research, and gain insights into the publishing industry and opportunities.

Language Variation in Society

The aim of this module is to introduce you to key themes from socially-minded areas of linguistics and make you aware of the existence of linguistic variation in society. You will also be introduced to the idea that language use can influence and construct meanings and identities.

Language, Gender and Identity

We'll introduce you to various concepts from sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and pragmatics. You'll develop an understanding of how linguistic identities are formed and observed. You'll also understand the methods used in sociolinguistic research and its gender approaches.

Writing Adaptations

Writing Adaptions introduces a range of genres, including literary and popular forms. You will examine the adaptations of an original text and evaluate similarities and differences. You will consider the extension, prequel, sequel, point of view, setting, period, and culture. You will reflect on your writing practice as well as your technical abilities.

Reading and Writing the Short Story

To engage with and critique the theory and practice of writing short fiction. To practice the techniques of writing short fiction and writing about this form/genre. To develop a critical and theoretical understanding of the short story as a distinct form in historical and contemporary contexts and markets. To encourage critical reading, selectivity and focused consideration of short fiction writers and their potential influence on contemporary writing practice.

Language and Literature

This module uses linguistic approaches to better understand poetic language, literary effect and style. You will use a range of texts from different literary periods to explore foregrounding, speech and thought representation, metaphor, point of view, dramatic dialogue, rhythm and metre and other ‘sound effects’.

Academic Writing and Graduate Development

This module will develop your academic and transferable career skills. You will adopt lifelong reflective practices for independent and collaborative working. You’ll also develop decision-making and problem-solving skills. You’ll even have the opportunity to support and mentor others.

Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults

This module will teach you the techniques of writing for children. You'll develop your skills in reading, interpreting and evaluating current children's' literature and use context to critique them. You'll explore aspects such as tone of voice, setting, character and structure. You'll reflect upon the relationships between theory and practice and understand the roles of professionals.

Reading and Writing Fairy Tales

This module will provide you with an exciting experience to revisit your favourite childhood tales. The major European collections of tales, such as those of Perrault, Grimm and Andersen, will provide the main focus of study, but non-European collections will also be considered.

Sociolinguistics

This module will introduce you to the basic concepts and methods of Sociolinguistics. You will examine the progression of Sociolinguistics in language and society.

Framing the News

In this module, you will investigate how the media influences public perceptions of the social world by promoting or focusing selectively on particular aspects or definitions of controversial issues in order to elicit a particular response from an audience. In particular, you will relate different ways of framing the same issues to various types of newspapers and their political/ideological orientation.

Language, Mind and Brain

This module aims to familiarise you with psycholinguistics, lines of enquiry, and research methods. It enables you to understand what the study of first language acquisition and disordered communication reveals about the storage and processing of language and develop your analytical, researching, and writing skills.

Metaphor and Meaning

In this module you will be introduced to the basic concepts and approaches in semantics, historical, lexical, cognitive semantics and with the main theories of sense and reference.

History of English

Using the details of the history of English, this module explores how and why languages change. You will explore the social contexts which trigger change as well the linguistic outcomes of change. In addition to considering the Germanic origins of English, you will document the key features associated with Old English, Middle English, as well as Shakespeare’s and Austen’s English.

Approaches to Syntax

This module builds on the skills developed on LG1220 Introduction to English Syntax and Phonology. It introduces terminology, analytic skills and grammatical architectures which, a, are in widespread use in the current syntactic literature, and which, b, can be developed further in English Syntax and World Grammars at level 6. Where relevant, explicit links will be made between grammatical constructions and punctuation. Grammatical terminology will be linked to the teaching requirements of the National Curriculum for English. 

The Creative Writing Dissertation

Our specific creative writing dissertation module will give you the chance to showcase all your skills that you have developed over the entirety of your course. You will produce an independent piece of work on your chosen genre by applying critical thinking to extensive research processes.

Experimental Fiction

To enable you to practice experimental techniques for writing fiction and reflect critically on your writing process To develop a critical and theoretical understanding of experimental fiction in historical and contemporary context To encourage you to discuss, debate and challenge terms, definitions and genre boundaries To enable you to develop and communicate your own manifesto for experiment.

English Language & Linguistics dissertation

You'll undertake a research project, which typically – though not necessarily – involves the collection and analysis of linguistic data. This includes producing a textual commentary, analysis or critique. A literature review or similar is deemed to be original if it constitutes a critical synthesis not already available from any single existing source.

Reading and Writing for Children and Young Adults

You'll begin by examining audience and the different bands within children’s literature. Explore a range of techniques including voice, character, setting and structure, as well as how to write and critique specific sub-genres. Gain an understanding of the current trends, the relationship between words and images and issues such as appropriate language and subject matter, censorship and the gatekeepers who inform and shape what children read. 

Life Writing

This module will explore the creative and critical possibilities of life-writing. You will examine a number of examples that demonstrate the different forms and approaches that life-writing can take including creative nonfiction, memoir, the lyrical essay, travel writing etc., autobiographical performance, and poetry. You will be introduced to the theory and criticism of life-writing including ideas around memory and the ethics of self-representation. You will be encouraged to experiment through a number of practical writing exercises as well as developing your final idea through the process of workshopping, giving and receiving feedback and deciding how to implement it in your final draft. You will be encouraged to consider the contemporary market for publishing within this form as well as to discuss and challenge the boundary between ‘creative’ and ‘critical’ writing.

Otherworlds: Reading and Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

On this module you'll develop your knowledge and skills of writing for science fiction and fantasy. You'll gain a theoretical and historical understanding of the genres and how to critically approach texts. You will be expected to familiarise yourself with a range of critical material and different fantasy and science fiction short stories, and to show evidence of your understanding in class discussions and your written work.

Literature into Film

This module aims to help you to evaluate the relationship between fictional and filmic texts. You will investigate the extent to which such texts are the product of social, political, cultural and generic contexts. This module will help with more opportunities to analysis different written assessments.

Language and Power

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the concept of 'power'. You will have the opportunity to examine the effect of power on and in language.

Forensic Linguistics

On this module, you'll study language as criminal evidence, covering frameworks like authorship analysis, plagiarism detection, and police interview evaluation. You'll engage in the analysis of documents (eg, ransom notes, terrorist materials, police interviews) from a forensic linguistics perspective.

Clinical Linguistics and Language Pathology

Clinical linguistics examines language disorders and delays (acquired and congenital). This module covers various language-related pathologies like auditory processing disorder, aphasia, autism, and more. These pathologies and their causes are discussed, providing insights into the cognitive foundations of language.

English Phonology

Our module takes a theoretical approach to English phonology, building on the basic descriptive approach to English phonology studied in previous modules. You will study the basic components of phonological forms; the ways in which they can combine together; rules governing accentuation and morphophonology.

English Syntax

This module aims to develop your understanding of theoretical challenges that language presents, present a theory of language and English, expose you to theorising in practice and as a mode of intellectual enquiry, expand your awareness and understanding of English grammar. It also aims to expand your experience of studying ideas with the ideas’ originator.

World Grammars: contrastive linguistics

On this module you'll consider the similarities and differences between the world’s language and engage with questions of universality. You will learn how to categorise/group languages, including English, according to structural type. You'll also have the opportunity to contrast some aspect of a second language with their native language, so that they can better explain second language errors.

Discourse, Argumentation, Rhetoric

This module introduces you to the practices of argument identification, analysis, reconstruction, analysis and evaluation, and critical thinking. You'll cover standard argument schemes and rhetorical analysis techniques, including the use of ethos, pathos, and logos for enhancing persuasive political discourse.

English in Education

The aims of this module are to examine the contribution of Linguistics to the teaching of English Language as a first language. The module focuses primarily on the current policies and approaches to the teaching of literacy and English in the compulsory sector in the UK. 

Course delivery

This course is taught face-to-face at one of our UK campuses.

Please note the delivery information for this course is accurate for the academic year 2023/24. The information displayed in this section may not yet accurately reflect how the course will be delivered in 2024/25 but this information will be updated by December 2023.

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of our published course information. However, our programmes are subject to ongoing review and development. Changing circumstances may cause alteration to, or the cancellation of, courses. Changes may be necessary to comply with the requirements of accrediting bodies or revisions to subject benchmarks statements. As well as to keep courses updated and contemporary, or as a result of student feedback. We reserve the right to make variations if we consider such action to be necessary or in the best interests of students.

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Future careers

Recent English Language and Creative Writing graduates have gained success in the worlds of publishing, writing, travel and tourism, advertising, journalism and the media. Others have pursued careers in management, commerce and public service.

We’ll give you lots of advice on how to build a successful career using your English Language and creative writing skills – we regularly host panels where professional writers, editors, literary agents and publishers provide valuable insights into their careers.

Graduates from this course have pursued a range of careers in writing and related fields, such as travel writing, play and script writing. They have also progressed to careers in travel, retail and marketing.

You will also be well equipped for entry into graduate professions in local government and public services, as well as graduate entry schemes.

Are you interested in a career in teaching and education? We have links with a network of schools in the region. You could go on to gain a PGCE in primary or secondary education, or a certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

Fees and funding

Additional costs.

As part of your course there may be additional costs to consider that are not included in your tuition fees. Most of these will be optional, but some courses have essential additional costs. Find out more about additional costs .

Scholarships and bursaries

We have a wide range of bursaries, scholarships and funds available to help support you whilst studying with us.

Select your country to see eligibility information and how to apply by selecting more info on the cards below.

Care Leaver Bursary

Our Care Leaver Bursary is for students who need extra support because they have been in care or are estranged from their parents.

Estranged student support

Estranged Student Support Bursary is for students who need extra support because they are estranged from their parents.

Dependants Bursary

Students with financially dependent children may be eligible for our Dependants Bursary as part of our financial support package. 

Financial Bursary

If you are from a low income household our Financial Bursary may be able to help.

Learning and assessment

A key feature of our BA in English Language and Creative Writing is choice:

On the Language side, you could choose to learn about how language is structured (syntax, phonetics and phonology, morphology), how language varies according to user and context, or the teaching of language – the choice s yours. You can also specialise in areas such as the media or forensic and political discourse.

On the Creative Writing side, you’ll get to develop your writing in a wide range of genres, from short stories to radio and film scripts. We’ll encourage you to reflect on the creative process and understand the journey from having an initial idea to transforming it into a new piece of work. Our modules are aimed at enhancing your written and verbal and communication skills, learning about careers in writing, and enhancing your employability. Along the way you’ll get to hear from guest authors, literary agents, editors and publishers.

The course involves a combination of lectures, seminars and workshops. You’ll have access to a dedicated English Language Laboratory, where you can use specialised computer applications for linguistic analysis. Creative Writing classes are taught in workshops, where you’ll get to work in small groups and share ideas.

Through our unique English Language Skills Initiative for Employability (ELSIE) project you’ll have the opportunity to gain experience in work-based activities such as copywriting, PR and press releases, producing brochures for clients, and more. Recent student projects have included taster sessions in local colleges, writing articles for community groups and designing resources for schools.

Throughout the course you’ll benefit from expert support from your tutors. We’ll encourage you to continually develop yourself. You’ll get the chance to gain valuable work experience through live projects – these could entail planning a literature festival, writing competition, reading project or other creative endeavour.

Through the Worldwise Centre, based in the School, you’ll get the opportunity to gain further practical experience through five day placements and short-term internships, as well as access the latest language learning and digital technologies (including Rosetta Stone).

This course is based in the School of Psychology and Humanities

For information on possible changes to course information, see our essential and important course information

You can find regulations and policies relating to student life at the University of Central Lancashire on our student contract page

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• Undergraduate Majors and Programs

English and Creative Writing

Welcome to English and Creative Writing where we invite you to read, reflect, imagine, and create by engaging in diverse literature and and writing in the English language from all over the world. 

English and Creative Writing majors engage in the advanced study of literature and literary genres from fiction and poetry to film, theater, spoken word and podcasts. Our curriculum emphasizes diverse literatures in English — from British to American multiethnic literature, diasporic to postcolonial, as well as global literatures in translation.

Our unique partnerships provide students with opportunities to take their literature studies beyond the classroom. Examples include: 

• Tuxedo Magazine
• Alter Theater Ensemble
• The Marin Shakespeare Company
• Service-Learning opportunities

English and Creative Writing majors culminate their studies in a self-directed capstone project in close consultation with faculty mentors, as well as a professional internship. 

The English minor offers students the chance to take electives in a variety of literary traditions and genres. With approval,  students may craft a personalized course of study which may include coursework in Honors, Humanities, or Communications, in addition to English. Learn more about our Minor Requirements on our course catalog. We also offer a Creative Writing minor . Through the study of technique and form, as well as models from masters of the craft, you’ll gain writing skills across multiple genres under the mentorship of our talented, award-winning faculty.

Career Paths

Our program prepares students for rigorous and creative engagement with our increasingly global and complex world. Majors and minors have gone on to become writers, media producers, teachers, lawyers, counselors, marketers, community organizers, managers, politicians, CEOs, entrepreneurs, or have entered graduate school. 

Although English and Creative Writing is a single major program, students elect to concentrate in either analyzing literature or producing creative writing. This concentration is reflected through different elective emphases and the final capstone project in consultation with your advisors. 

Degrees Offered

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School of Liberal Arts and Education

Literature, Language and Humanities

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BA English Literature with Creative Writing / Overview

Year of entry: 2024

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AAA with A in English Literature or English Language and Literature (i.e. not English Language alone), plus a creative writing portfolio.

AAB, including A in English Literature, or English Language and Literature (ie. not English Language alone), plus creative writing portfolio

36 points overall. 6,6,6 in Higher Level subjects to include 6 in English Literature, or English Language & Literature (ie. not English Language alone).

Full entry requirements

Course overview

• Study at a university ranked sixth in the UK for English language and literature (QS World University Rankings 2023).
• Explore the rich literary history and current creative scene of Manchester, recently designated UNESCO City of Literature.
• Study more than 1,000 years of writing in English, engaging with literary and cultural theory, studying texts in their historical contexts, and reflecting on different cultures and traditions.
• Develop creative writing skills in fiction and poetry through workshops led by some of the most adventurous poets, novelists, and science-fiction writers currently in the UK.

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Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2024 will be £9,250 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £25,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

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Related courses

• English Literature BA (3 years)
• English Literature and Latin BA (3 years)
• Drama and English Literature BA (3 years)
• History and American Studies BA (3 years)
• English Literature and American Studies BA (3 years)

Courses in related subject areas

Use the links below to view lists of courses in related subject areas.

• English Literature, American Studies and Creative Writing

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• Royal Holloway's institution code: R72

Make a note of the UCAS code for the course you want to apply for:

• English and Creative Writing BA - QW38
• Click on the link below to apply via the UCAS website:

Key information

Duration: 3 years full time

UCAS code: QW38

Institution code: R72

Campus: Egham

English and Creative Writing (BA)

By combining the study of creative writing with English, you'll become an informed and critical reader as well as a confident and expressive writer - whether specialising as a poet, playwright, or author of fiction.

Studying at one of the UK's most dynamic English departments will challenge you to develop your own critical faculties. Learning to write creatively and critically analyse in tandem, you'll be exposed to a huge variety of literature while you develop your own writing practice. Studying English will allow you to place your writing within a wider cultural context of literature throughout history, considering key texts and acquiring a sound understanding of significant periods, genres, authors and ideas.

Modules are taught by nationally and internationally known scholars, authors, playwrights and poets who are specialists in their fields who write ground-breaking books, talk or write in the national media and appear at literary festivals around the world.  This means the course you take covers the most up-to-date ideas, whether in Creative Writing, Victorian Literature, Shakespearean studies or contemporary literature.

Find your voice as a writer and develop writing techniques, learn how to create, criticise and shape an artistic work: a valuable life skill with uses beyond writing poetry, plays or novels. From journalism and website creation to advertising and academic publishing – you'll be able to use the skills you pick up in character, voice, ambiguity, style and cultural context.

• Writing practice at the heart of your learning experience.
• Taught by high-profile, award-winning writers.
• Create and shape artistic work – ideal skills for a career in media or publishing.
• Choose one of three distinct pathways: fiction, poetry, or playwriting.
• Access to a thriving culture of creative writing.

From time to time, we make changes to our courses to improve the student and learning experience. If we make a significant change to your chosen course, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.

Course structure

Core modules.

In this module you will develop an understanding of a range of literary and cultural writing forms through reading, discussion and practice. You will look at poetry, drama and prose fiction alongside stand-up comedy, adaptation, translation, songwriting, and other forms of creative expression and articulation. You will learn how to offer clear, constructive, sensitive critical appraisals, and how to accept and appropriately value criticism of your own work.

In this module you will develop an understanding of a range historical perspectives on the function, forms, and value of creative writing. You will look at the genesis of particular genres, such as the short story, the novel and the manifesto, and consider relationships between historical genres and the contemporary writer. You will interrogate your own assumptions about creative writing and critically examine the relationship between creative writing and society.

In this module you will develop an understanding of the origins, developments and innovations of the novel form. You will look at a range of contemporary, eighteenth and nineteenth-century novels and learn to use concepts in narrative theory and criticism. You will consider literary history and make formal and thematic connections between texts and their varying socio-cultural contexts. You will examine novels such as 'The Accidental' by Ali Smith, 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe and 'North and South' by Elizabeth Gaskell, analysing their cultural and intellectual contexts.

In this module you will develop an understanding of a variety of major poems in English. You will look at key poems from the Renaissance to the present day. You will engage with historical issues surrounding the poems and make critical judgements, considering stylistic elements such as rhyme, rhythm, metre, diction and imagery. You will examine poems from Shakespeare to Sylvia Plath and analyse topics such as sound, the stanza and the use of poetic language.

In this module you will develop an understanding of how to think, read and write as a critic. You will look at the concepts, ideas and histories that are central to the ‘disciplinary consciousness’ of English Literature, considering periodisation, form, genre, canon, intention, narrative, framing and identity.

You will choose two from the following:

• Playwriting

This module concentrates on a particular mode of writing, genre, theme, issue or idea. You will be encouraged to make creative work in relation to the focus, and develop your writing practice in relation to wider contexts relevant to the contemporary writer.

Creative Writing Special Focus courses are open to both creative writing and non-creative writing students.

You will choose one of the following modules. Each of these modules consists of a year-long independent project, working closely with a staff supervisor from the appropriate field.

• Playwriting 2

Optional Modules

There are a number of optional course modules available during your degree studies. The following is a selection of optional course modules that are likely to be available. Please note that although the College will keep changes to a minimum, new modules may be offered or existing modules may be withdrawn, for example, in response to a change in staff. Applicants will be informed if any significant changes need to be made.

• All modules are core

Develop your skills in the close reading and critical analysis of Middle English poetry, focusing on set passages from three important fourteenth century texts: Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, Langland’s Piers Plowman, and the anonymous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The module invites you to think about how poets understood the status of Middle English as a literary language, in comparison with Latin and French.

The Lord of the Rings regularly shows up in lists of 'The Best Books of All Time', and Tolkien continues to inspire interest and imitation for all kinds of reasons. You will examine Tolkien’s work from the perspective of his engagement with Old English poetry, a subject which constituted an important part of his scholarly activity. You will look at his three main Old English poems (in the original and in translation) and Tolkien’s two most popular works of fiction, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

In this module you will explore a major literary genre which attracted all the great poets of late medieval England: the dream vision. It considers the use of the genre in the works of Chaucer, Langland and the Gawain-poet, as well as examining the visions in mystical writing. These authors’ treatments of the genre repeatedly ask us to reflect on the relationship of literature to experience, poetic authority and identity, and the development of English as a literary language.

Romance was one of the most popular genres of secular literature in late medieval England. You will begin by looking at the Arthurian romances of Chretien de Troyes, before going on to consider works by Chaucer, the Gawain-poet and Sir Thomas Malory. You will examine romances set in the mythical British past, in the classical cities of Troy, Thebes and Athens, and in the more recognisable landscapes of medieval England and France. Attention will be paid throughout this module to the often inventive and unpredictable ways in which medieval romance works to articulate specific historical and cultural anxieties.

In this module you will develop an understanding of the Anglo-Saxon riddling tradition. You will look at a wide range of Exeter Book Riddles, learning to translate Old English Poetry into modern English. You will consider techniques of textual analysis and personal judgement to form clearly expressed critical examinations of texts. You will consider various perspectives on Anglo-Saxon culture and literature and analyse riddles on topics such as animals, religion, heroic life and runes.

This module explores in-depth three supreme examples of Shakespearean comedy, tragedy and historical drama: Richard III (1592-3), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-6), and Macbeth (1606).

The texts covered in this module span virtually the whole period in which early modern English drama flourished: from Marlowe in c.1593 to 1634. The texts range from famous plays like Macbeth and The Tempest to little-known comedies like The Wise-woman of Hogsden. Two central texts will be The Witch of Edmonton and The Late Lancashire Witches, plays which deal with historically documented witchcraft accusations and scares. Non-dramatic texts about witchcraft are also included for study, including news pamphlets, works by learned contemporaries expressing their opinions about witchcraft, and popular ballads.

Charting a progression from Galenic humoral theory to Cartesian dualism, you will consider the representation and significance of corporeality in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century texts. Reading Renaissance plays and poetry alongside anatomical textbooks, manuals of health, erotica, and philosophical essays, the module seeks to contextualise the period's literary treatment of the body.

This module offers the opportunity to study one very important and characteristic aspect of Milton’s Paradise Lost: his depiction of Eden, the paradise that was lost at the fall. Throughout his account of Paradise, Milton works to make the loss of Paradise poignant by lavishing on it all his evocative powers as a poet. You will spend at least three sessions looking at Milton's epic, covering aspects such as Edenic sex and marriage, Eden’s fauna and flora, and work in Eden. Throughout the module images of Paradise will be given attention, starting with Hieronymus Bosch's 'The Garden of Earthly Delight'. Alongside artworks, you will look at some of the Bible scholarship which tried to locate the site of Paradise, and deduce its fate.

An introduction to English literature from the Norman Conquest to the birth of Chaucer. This period has been described both as a period of political crisis and also as a period of cultural renaissance. It saw the conquest and colonization of England, the rise of new forms of scholarship and spirituality, and, according to some accounts, the development of new ways of thinking about national and individual identity

Explore the Victorian concept of the 'sensational' across a range of novels dating from the height of the sensation period in the 1850s and 60s. Together, we will examine some of the magazines in which these novels were originally serialized. Issues such as the role of public spectacle, the first detectives, advertising, domestic crime and the demonic woman will be explored in relation to the cultural and social context of this novelistic genre.

This module, which is designed to enable non-creative writing students to try a creative writing module, will give you the opportunity to work through some issues associated with short-story and/or novel writing. Classes will alternate seminar discussions of aspects of the craft of writing with workshops in which you will interact critically and creatively with others' work.

Examine a range of novels by gay and lesbian writers in Britain and Ireland which have emerged in the wake of the AIDS catastrophe and queer theory. You will focus on interesting though rather peculiar trends in the post-queer novel: queer historical and biographical fictions, and explore the reasons behind the dominance of these approaches in recent gay and lesbian literature.

With the appointment of Carol Ann Duffy as the first woman Poet Laureate for the United Kingdom in 2009, poetry by women became publicly validated as never before. Setting fresh horizons for women’s poetry, Duffy joined Gillian Clarke who has served as National Poet of Wales since 2008; Liz Lochhead was appointed Scots Makar in 2011, and Paula Meehan was appointed in 2013 to the Ireland Chair of Poetry. By careful reading of two collections by each poet, you will assess how each poet has moved from a position of rebellion, liminality or minority into the very heart of the cultural institution.

Discover the 'dark' topics of late-Victorian and Edwardian literature. Perhaps the most important cultural influence on these texts is the negative possibility inherent in Darwinism: that of 'degeneration', of racial or cultural reversal, explored in texts like Wells's The Time Machine, and often related to the Decadent literature of Wilde and others.

An introduction to American literature via the tradition which David Reynolds labels 'dark reform'; a satirical and often populist mode which seek out the abuses which lie beneath the optimistic surface of American life, often through grotesque, scatological, sexualized and carnivalesque imagery. You will explore the contention that because of America's history, with its notions of national consensus and fear of class conflict, political critique in America has often had to find indirect expression.

This module will familiarise you with a range of influential critical and theoretical ideas in literary studies, influential and important for all the areas and periods you will study during your degree.

An introduction to the literature of the English Renaissance, beginning in the 1590s with erotic narrative poems by Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare, and concluding with John Milton's drama, Samson Agonistes, first published in 1671. Marlowe and Thomas Middleton represent the extraordinarily rich drama of the period, while John Donne and Andrew Marvell are the most famous of the so-called metaphysical poets. A feature of the module is the attention given to situating these works in their historical and cultural contexts.

Between the English Revolution and the French Revolution, British literature was pulled by opposing cultural forces and experienced an extraordinary degree of experimentation. The eighteenth century is sometimes called The Age of Reason, but it is also called The Age of Sensibility. It was dominated by male writers, but also facilitated the rise of the woman novelist and the emergence of coteries of intellectual women. It continued to be an essentially rural nation, but London grew to be the biggest city in the world and industrialisation was beginning to herd workers into towns. This module explores some of the tensions and oppositions which were played out in the literature of this period.

This module is framed by the personal: it begins with Queen Victoria’s private diaries of her happiest days in Scotland, and ends just beyond the Victorian period, with one troubled man’s intensely-felt account of his Victorian childhood. You will look at examples of the novelistic form, including sensation, Romantic, domestic realist and sentimental novels. Some of the works you will study are well-known and truly canonical, while others will be excitingly unfamiliar; all, however, will contribute to a sense of the variety and contradictions inherent in being Victorian.

This module will introduce you to a broad range of literatures from the period 1780 to 1830. The module aims to problematise and scrutinise the idea of Romanticism as a homogenous literary movement and to raise awareness of the range of competing literary identities present in the period.

Providing an introduction to the study of literary modernism, a period of intense experimentation in diverse sets of cultural forms.  This module deals with issues such as modernist aesthetics; genre; gender and sexuality; the fragment; time and narration; stream-of-consciousness; history, politics and colonialism; technology, and the status of language and the real.

The principal aim of this course is to immerse second-year literature students in the world of digital tools for exploring literature. Through extensive hands-on use of online parsing tools, algorithmic methods for assessing aspects such as word co-association, various types of visualization packages and a great deal more besides, students will realise the remarkable affordances of digital tools in reading and interpreting texts.

Explore British drama staged during the first half of the twentieth century against a backdrop of two world wars. The plays studied place the values of their age under scrutiny, to raise questions about social justice, spiritual choices, class and gender inequalities. Theatrical genres were under just as much pressure as the cultural values they sought to convey; the ten plays studies during the course reflect a range of evolving genres, from the well-made play, the play of ideas, social comedy, to poetic drama.

This module aims to develop your advanced writing skills for academic attainment and employability. You will be introduced to key forms of writing from a variety of professional contexts. An initial focus on the academic essay will enable you to develop writing from more familiar experience.

A project involving designing and promoting a virtual exhibition will introduce you to the writing skills needed in heritage professions and group work. Real life writing and editing tasks introduced by industry professionals from the world of publishing will provide you with practical experience to share with potential employers. You will also be introduced to the requirements of pitches, policy briefs, and the work of writing in the legal professions.

A comprehensive study of three of Shakespeare's most difficult and most disturbing plays, collectively known as the ‘problem plays’: Troilus and Cressida, All’s Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure. You will develop a detailed knowledge and understanding of the plays, both as individual works of dramatic art and as a group of texts sharing distinctive concerns and techniques.

In this module you will develop an understanding of representations of the body in Renaissance Literature. You will look at a broad range of canonical and non-canonical literature including medical, philosophical and theological texts. You will learn to use diverse critical and theoretical approaches and consider topics including bodily metamorphosis, foreign bodies and gendered bodies. You will examine poetry from writers such as John Donne and Philip Sidney and plays from writers such as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and John Webster.

An advanced introduction to debates about the philosophy of literature. This module is structured around three key questions: the ethics of literature, what literature is presumed to reveal and the relationship between literature and its interpretation.

This module will introduces you to a number of theorists of tragedy, and a number of significant tragic texts (in dramatic and other idioms) from Classical Greece to the present day. All works not written in English are studied in translation. You will explore a variety of theories of tragedy with specific attention to a range of tragic works in various modes: plays, novels, poetry and film.

Focusing primarily on Joyce’s major work Ulysses while putting it into context with Joyce’s other work, you will have the opportunity of getting to know and getting to enjoy what has been described as ‘the greatest novel of the 20th century’. You will examine it in various contexts, including Joyce’s other writings and the various critical approaches that have found inspiration from Joyce, whether new critical, humanist, post-structuralist, politicizing, feminist, historicizing or textualist responses to his work.

This module explores aspects of nineteenth-century literature, science and culture in some depth and brings well-known works like Charlotte Brontë's Villette, Eliot's Middlemarch and Dickens's Our Mutual Friend into conversation with the evolutionary thought of Charles Darwin, the social investigations of Henry Mayhew and nineteenth-century writings on psychology. You will look at a number of genres, including novels, poetry, journalism, science writing, autobiography, history, art criticism and examine elements of contemporary visual culture.

The objective of this course is to prepare literature students for work in the creative industries by developing their use of digital technologies in responding to literature. In using digital technology to respond to literature both critically and aesthetically, literature students can become adept at various practices that are of immediate, valuable use in the creative industry workplace. This course will cultivate these practices, show how they grow organically out of a love for reading and writing, and demonstrate how they are skills that are in great demand in a wide range of creative workplaces.

In this module you will consider a range of contemporary and experimental poetic writing and consider writing practices in relation to contemporary theory and criticism. You will look at the methods, processes and techniques used by experimental and innovative writers becoming familiar with a range of methodologies for making your own poetic practice.

In this module you will address the relationship between literature and the visual arts from c.1760 to the 1890s. You will look at theoretical issues of how the visual and the verbal arts are defined and consider their compatibility through a number of case studies of visual-verbal interactions from the period studied. You will also address the rise of the visual as the dominant cultural form of the Victorian period, tracing the development of illustrated media and new visual technologies including photography and early cinema, and the concomitant rise of the new phenomenon of the art critic - the professional interpreter of images - in the 1890s.

This module focuses on a key moment in mid-20th century art and culture: the period when the New York Schools of poetry, painting and composition emerged in parallel. In the postwar period, the city took over from Paris as the centre of contemporary art. Abstract Expressionism quickly achieved global popularity, establishing the Museum of Modern Art as the world’s leading contemporary art museum. However, other cultural currents also made a great impact on their respective disciplines. The witty, fast-moving work of the New York School Poets (Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Barbara Guest and James Schuyler) challenged the authority of High Modernism in the field of poetry. The radical music of John Cage and Morton Feldman posed a similar challenge to established European composers. The leading proponents of these tendencies did not work in isolation from other disciplines. The poets, for example, wrote about art and Cage and Feldman were both inspired, in different ways, by painters such as Rauschenberg and Guston. This module examines all three fields and the relations between them.

The 1930s was a decade of extremes: extreme financial instability (after the Wall Street Crash of 1929) and extreme politics, with the rise of Fascism and Nazism in Europe. British colonialism was showing fractures; there was a war in mainland Europe (in Spain), and the increasing threat of another World War, which eventually came to pass. Could it be that it closely - all too closely - resembles the decade that we’re living in now – with the rise of nationalisms, extreme ideologies, unstable international relations, following on from a colossal crash in the financial markets? What can we learn about our world by reading fiction from the 1930s?

Examine fictional representations of the girl across a range of texts, from Charlotte Brontë's eponymous Jane Eyre through to Antonia White's Catholic schoolgirl, Nanda and Ian McEwan's remorseful Briony Tallis. As well as enabling an exploration of female development and subjectivity, you will also engage with a range of questions relating to sexuality and desire, place and belonging, knowledge and resistance, art and creativity.

In this module you will study a broad range of writing for children from the nineteenth through to the twenty-first century.

The end of the various colonial empires in the middle of the twentieth century saw an explosion of literatures from the newly emergent postcolonial societies. Rather than provide a survey of the field of postcolonial studies, this module aims at engaging the recent debates in postcolonial writing, theory and criticism. You will critically examine a range of postcolonial novels from Britain’s erstwhile empire, paying attention to issues such as the boons and contradictions of writing in the language of the colonial powers, the postcolonial reclamation of the Western canon etc. and focussing on genres such as postcolonial realism, modernism, magic realism, and science fiction. You will pay close attention to novels and their historical legacies of colonialism and resistance.

In this module you will consider two immediate, present-day concerns. The first is currently very much in circulation in English political culture and the media: what is and should be the relationship between England and continental Europe? How involved is and should the first be with the second? How close are they, how distant should they be? The second sounds rather more academic or theoretical, but is also at issue in the wider culture and involves us all. Over the past two decades, many thinkers and writers have announced that we have arrived at 'the end of modernity', and many more have declared that we are'post-modern', that we inhabit a 'postmodern condition'. Yet round about us, all the time, we hear of one kind of enthusiastic 'modernization' or another. What sense can we make of this?

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are among the greatest literary achievements of the middle Ages. Chaucer describes a group of pilgrims, drawn from all parts of late medieval English society, who enter into a tale-telling competition on their way to Canterbury. Their stories include romances, fabliaux, saints’ lives and beast fables, and address themes of love and sorrow, trickery and deception, fate and free will, satire, tragedy and magic, as well as raising questions about the nature and purposes of storytelling itself. In this module you will read The Canterbury Tales in detail in the original Middle English. You will examine how the tales relate to their literary and cultural contexts, and read them in the light of different schools of modern criticism. You will also have the opportunity to read a range of earlier writers who influenced Chaucer, including Ovid, Boethius, Dante and Boccaccio, and later writers who responded to him, including Lydgate, Hoccleve and Dryden.

In this module you will study the complete career of Charles Dickens (1812-1870), looking at eight novels in their historical and cultural contexts. You will examine Dickens's life and times, and the cultural discourses that shaped his fiction; the serialisation and illustration of his work, and the themes, forms and structures of his writing. You will also consider the richness and specificity of Dickens' actual work.

In this module you will have the opportunity to read in detail and in chronological order the full range of works by Oscar Wilde, from his early poetry to his last letters. Wilde’s work has captured the widest possible public attention since his death in 1900, and his readers and audiences are spread across the globe. His work is intensely literary and profoundly political yet it is popular and fleet-of-foot. And just as his output is exceptionally varied, so too the questions which arise from its study will take students in many directions. Aesthetic poetry, the role of the critic, the construction and betrayal of national and sexual identities, symbolist drama, platonic dialogue, fairy tale, farce, satire, wit: these are some of the topics you will examine.

Often described as the most difficult and influential poems of the twentieth-century, T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" is undoubtedly one of the key Modernist texts. You will you look at Eliot's 1922 poem, along with a selection of his critical writings, engaging in an intensive reading experience in which you will examine ideas about composition, structure, voice, time, myth and intertextuality.

The dissertation is an opportunity for you to undertake a substantial piece of independent work in an area of your choice, and so to deepen your understanding of literature, culture and critical theory.

Teaching & assessment

You’ll be taught through a combination of lectures and seminars, and participate in study groups, essay consultations and guided independent study, plus you will produce a portfolio of creative work.

You will be assigned a Personal Tutor and have access to many online resources and the University’s comprehensive e-learning facility, Moodle.

In your first year, you will work in small groups of just four or five students focusing on study skills such as close reading, essay writing and presentation and self-editing. As you progress through your degree, these tutorials focus on your own personal development, for instance preparing your CV.

You will also take a study skills course, designed to equip you with and enhance the writing skills you will need to be successful in your degree. This course does not count towards your final degree award but you are required to pass it to progress to your second year.

All undergraduate degree courses at Royal Holloway are based on the course unit system. This system provides an effective and flexible approach to study while ensuring that our degrees have a coherent and developmental structure.

Entry requirements

A levels: aaa-aab.

Required subjects:

• A in an essay-based Arts and Humanities subject at A-Level
• At least five GCSEs at grade A*-C or 9-4 including English and Mathematics.

Where an applicant is taking the EPQ alongside A-levels, the EPQ will be taken into consideration and result in lower A-level grades being required. For students who are from backgrounds or personal circumstances that mean they are generally less likely to go to university, you may be eligible for an alternative lower offer. Follow the link to learn more about our  contextual offers.

We accept T-levels for admission to our undergraduate courses, with the following grades regarded as equivalent to our standard A-level requirements:

• AAA* – Distinction (A* on the core and distinction in the occupational specialism)
• AAA – Distinction
• BBB – Merit
• CCC – Pass (C or above on the core)
• DDD – Pass (D or E on the core)

Where a course specifies subject-specific requirements at A-level, T-level applicants are likely to be asked to offer this A-level alongside their T-level studies.

English language requirements

All teaching at Royal Holloway (apart from some language courses) is in English. You will therefore need to have good enough written and spoken English to cope with your studies right from the start of your course.

The scores we require

• IELTS: 7.0 overall. Writing 7.0. No other subscore lower than 5.5.
• Pearson Test of English: 69 overall. Writing 69. No other subscore lower than 51.
• Trinity College London Integrated Skills in English (ISE): ISE IV.
• Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) grade C.

Country-specific requirements

For more information about country-specific entry requirements for your country please visit here .

Undergraduate preparation programme

For international students who do not meet the direct entry requirements, for this undergraduate degree, the Royal Holloway International Study Centre offers an International Foundation Year programme designed to develop your academic and English language skills.

Upon successful completion, you can progress to this degree at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Taking a degree in English sets you up with great prospects for future employability. On the course itself we place a strong emphasis on your future employability, meaning the skills that you gain won’t just be applicable to the study of English.

Although many of our students go on to further study in literature and other fields, skills such as research, presentation, teamwork, negotiation and communication will prepare you for a wide range of career opportunities.  

Fees, funding & scholarships

Home (UK) students tuition fee per year*: £9,250

EU and international students tuition fee per year**: £23,800

Other essential costs***: There are no single associated costs greater than £50 per item on this course.

How do I pay for it? Find out more about  funding options , including  loans , scholarships and bursaries . UK students who have already taken out a tuition fee loan for undergraduate study should  check their eligibility  for additional funding directly with the relevant awards body.

**The tuition fee for UK undergraduates is controlled by Government regulations. The fee for the academic year 2024/25 is £9,250 and is provided here as a guide. The fee for UK undergraduates starting in 2025/26 has not yet been set, but will be advertised here once confirmed.

**This figure is the fee for EU and international students starting a degree in the academic year 2024/25, and is included as a guide only. The fee for EU and international students starting a degree in 2025/26 has not yet been set, but will be advertised here once confirmed.

Royal Holloway reserves the right to increase tuition fees annually for overseas fee-paying students. Please be aware that tuition fees can rise during your degree. The upper limit of any such annual rise has not yet been set for courses starting in 2025/26 but will be advertised here once confirmed.  For further information see  fees and funding  and the  terms and conditions .

***These estimated costs relate to studying this specific degree at Royal Holloway during the 2024/25 academic year, and are included as a guide. General costs, such as accommodation, food, books and other learning materials and printing etc., have not been included.

English Undergraduate Admissions

Admissions office: +44 (0)1784 414944

Source: Complete University Guide, 2024

Source: National Student Survey, 2023 (Creative Writing)

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English Literature with Creative Writing BA Honours

• UCAS code: QW38

Discover the literature that has shaped our society and tap into your creative skills with our English Literature with Creative Writing BA degree.

You are currently viewing course information for entry year: 2024-25

Next start date:

• September 2024

Fees (per year)

• Home: £9250
• International: £21000

Entry requirements and offers

• A-Level: AAB
• IB: 34 points

View contextual offers

UCAS Institution name and code:

• How to apply
• Support for your application
• Sign up for an Open Day

Course overview

Our English Literature and Creative Writing BA brings together criticism and creativity, with opportunities to study and create poetry, prose, film, and drama.

Whether you’re polishing a short story, learning about literature and postcolonialism, or writing your own poetry in response to an author from the past, you’ll be working alongside our world-leading researchers and internationally acclaimed writers.

At our Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts, you’ll meet famous creative artists. You can join workshops on everything from finding an agent to creating a fantasy language. You can also get experience in arts management.

At the end of this three-year degree, you will have the critical skills to analyse a wide range of literature. You will also have the practical knowledge of how to produce creative writing of a high standard.

You’ll be ready to take further steps towards a career in the creative arts. You will also have critical and creative skills that many other employers value highly.

Download information about this course as a PDF

Your course and study experience - disclaimers and terms and conditions   Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19. View our  Academic experience page , which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2023-24. See our  terms and conditions and student complaints information , which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Quality and ranking

Professional accreditation and recognition.

All professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by their professional body.

Modules and learning

The information below is intended to provide an example of what you will study.

Most degrees are divided into stages. Each stage lasts for one academic year, and you'll complete modules totalling 120 credits by the end of each stage. 

Our teaching is informed by research. Course content may change periodically to reflect developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback.

Optional module availability Student demand for optional modules may affect availability. Full details of the modules on offer will be published through the  Programme Regulations and Specifications ahead of each academic year. This usually happens in May. To find out more please see our terms and conditions.

You'll be introduced to a variety of literary texts; poetry, prose, plays and film. You'll build a foundation in the critical and theoretical skills you need for your studies in stages 2 and 3.

You explore different ways of approaching creative writing. You will develop your creativity and gain experience in writing in different forms.

You will advance your understanding of literature through the ages, and take at least one pre-19th-century module alongside at least one focusing on modern or contemporary topics.

In Creative Writing, you will develop your craft and literary techniques in prose, theatre script, poetry or screenwriting.

You only take one of the following modules if you undertake the Study Abroad exchange programme:

Overseas Exchange (Semester 1)

Overseas Exchange (Semester 2)  

You will be supported in the production of an original piece of literary work in an area of your interest, in either prose, theatre script, poetry or screenwriting. Your portfolio will bring together everything you’ve learnt about creative writing and allow you to devise a project that demonstrates your individuality.

You'll choose four specialist options in literature, taking modules that cover both pre-19th century and post-19th century topics.

Current options include The Victorian novel, British and international children’s literature, Romantic poetry, Caribbean literature and film, Medieval literature, American literature, and Contemporary Documentary. Or, you can also do a work placement in the cultural industries.

We base these figures and graphs on the most up-to-date information available to us. They are based on the modules chosen by our students in 2022-23.

Teaching time is made up of:

• scheduled learning and teaching activities. These are timetabled activities with a member of staff present.
• structured guided learning. These are activities developed by staff to support engagement with module learning. Students or groups of students undertake these activities without direct staff participation or supervision

Teaching and assessment

Teaching methods.

You can normally expect to spend around 10 hours per week attending lectures, seminars, workshops and film screenings. You also spend around 25 hours per week on class preparation, reading, writing, and other kinds of independent research recommended by your tutor.

Assessment methods

You'll be assessed through a combination of:

Assignments – written or fieldwork

Dissertation or research project

Examinations – practical or online

Presentations

Skills and experience

Practical experience.

Our Creative Writing instructors are all practising professional writers. They model their teaching to provide similar experiences to those in the creative industries.

When you study English Literature at Newcastle, you will also enjoy regular field trips organised by the School. These include visits to:

• The Wordsworth Trust (Dove Cottage)
• Seven Stories (the National Centre for Children's Books)
• various city theatres including Northern Stage, Live Theatre and Theatre Royal

Business skills

Our modules provide a huge number of transferable skills.

You will learn to:

• work independently
• manage projects
• write clear and persuasive prose
• analyse complex datasets and sources.

You'll have the opportunity to gain real-world work experience in the cultural industries in Stage 3. We also offer modules in partnership with the Careers Service in Stage 2 and 3.

Employability

Employability and the engagement of literature with the wider world go hand-in-hand in this degree.

Many of our literature modules, particularly in Stage 3, model their assessments on the kind of tasks you might be employed to do:

• constructing marketing briefs
• drafting website copy
• curating exhibitions
• writing persuasive arguments
• enthralling creative fiction.

Beyond our modules, there are plenty of extracurricular opportunities. These range from freelance work for Newcastle’s student newspaper to paid internships in our department.

In particular,  the Newcastle Centre for Literary Arts  hires students to work on everything from event management to app design. The centre also runs workshops with professionals in the creative industries.

Chat with an English Literature with Creative Writing student

Harrogate, UK

English literature with creative writing ba.

To find out that Newcastle did my dream course was ideal and I am so lucky to be studying what I love at such a good university.

• Opportunities

Study abroad

You can study abroad for one semester in your second year as part of this degree. In Europe we have links with:

• Ghent University, Belgium
• Leipzig University, Germany
• Groningen University, Netherlands
• Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

We also have links with universities in other parts of the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and the USA, including, but not limited to:

• Monash University, Australia
• University of Sydney, Australia
• McGill University, Canada
• University of Hong Kong
• University of Vermont, USA

Find out more about Study Abroad .

Work placement

During your degree, you’ll have multiple opportunities to undertake a meaningful work placement. In your second and third years, you may choose to take the Career Development Module which offers academic credit for 50 hours of placement. You can choose to carry out your placement via part-time work, volunteering or in a local school. You will be assessed through a mixture of written work, presentations, and professional skills assessment.

In addition, you'll have the option to spend 9 to 12 months on a work placement with University support from our dedicated Careers team to help you secure your dream placement in the UK or abroad. Work placements take place between stages 2 and 3.

You'll gain first-hand experience of working in the sector, putting your learning into practice, and developing your professional expertise. Previous placements have been in a range of sectors, including:

• Journalism and Broadcasting
• Sustainable Energy
• Digital Media and Marketing
• Museum and Heritage
• Travel and Tourism

If you choose to take a work placement, it will extend your degree by a year. Placements are subject to availability.

Find out more about work placements.

Facilities and environment

You'll be based in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics. The School is located in the Percy Building, which is at the heart of our city-centre campus. You'll join a lively community of students, academics, writers, and professionals.

You'll have access to:

• a digital media lab – for students with documentary and film-making modules
• a PC cluster
• a student-led café
• plenty of spaces to work and socialise

You will have exceptional library provision from our award-winning Library Service. It houses over one million books and a huge range of electronic resources.

Our literature and creative writing teaching is linked to  the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts (NCLA) programme. This will give you regular contact with leading creative artists. You'll also have access to a diverse programme of events, including spoken-word events and creative writing courses.

Find out more about the  School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics .

You'll have the support of an academic member of staff as a Personal Tutor throughout your degree to help with academic and personal issues affecting your academic progress.

Peer Mentors will help you in your first year. They are fellow students who can help you settle in and answer questions you may have when starting university.

Your future

Industry links.

Our alumni include: 

• Peter Straughan (screenwriter of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)
• Andy Bird (former chairman of Walt Disney International)
• Neil Astley (writer and founder of Bloodaxe publishing house)
• Teresa Graham (accountant and SME champion, awarded a CBE in 2007 and an OBE in 1997)

Students with this degree get a range of valuable skills, which they can transfer to many different sectors. Your literary training can be used in journalism, librarianship, teaching and the highly competitive fields of writing, acting, and directing. Our graduates have also gone into a variety of career areas including marketing, law, politics, and human resources.

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Follow in their footsteps

• Nationality: British
• Graduated: 2015
• Now working as: Author

'You can’t beat the experience of having an expert and engaged tutor read your work and say "Not quite", "Not quite", and then, finally, "That’s it!"'.

Find out what Will liked the most about studying English Literature with Creative Writing at Newcastle University and how this degree helped him in his career as an author.

Read about Will's journey .

Careers support

Our award-winning Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. We provide an extensive range of opportunities to all students through our ncl+ initiative.

Visit our Careers Service website

Recognition of professional qualifications outside of the UK

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Check the government’s website for more information .

Entry requirements

All candidates are considered on an individual basis and we accept a broad range of qualifications. The entrance requirements and offers below apply to  2024 entry.

Other UK and the Republic of Ireland qualifications

Contextual offers.

Through one of our contextual routes, you could receive an offer of up to three grades lower than the typical requirements.

What is a contextual offer? Find out more and if you’re eligible for this or our PARTNERS Programme supported entry route.

Qualifications from outside the UK

English language requirements, entrance courses (into).

International Pathway Courses are specialist programmes designed for international students who want to study in the UK. We provide a range of study options for international students in partnership with INTO. 

Find out more about International Pathway Courses

Admissions policy

This policy applies to all undergraduate and postgraduate admissions at Newcastle University. It is intended to provide information about our admissions policies and procedures to applicants and potential applicants, to their advisors and family members, and to staff of the University.

• Download our admissions policy  (PDF: 201KB)
• Other policies related to admissions

Credit transfer and Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) can allow you to convert existing relevant university-level knowledge, skills and experience into credits towards a qualification.  Find out more about the RPL policy which may apply to this course.

Tuition fees and scholarships

Tuition fees for 2024 entry (per year).

The maximum fee that we are permitted to charge for home fee-paying students is set by the UK government.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Read more about fees and funding

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support.

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here .

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See our  undergraduate scholarship page for more information.

Year abroad and additional costs

For programmes where you can spend   a year on a work placement or studying abroad,   you will receive a significant fee reduction for that year. 

Some of our degrees involve additional costs which are not covered by your tuition fees.

Find out more about:

• different tuition fees
• additional costs
• scholarships for UK, EU and international students
• Student Loans and Government financial support for UK and EU students

Open days and events

You'll have a number of opportunities to meet us throughout the year at our on-campus and virtual open days.

You'll be able to:

• explore our beautiful campus

• find out about our vibrant city

• discover what students think about studying at Newcastle

You'll also have the opportunity to speak to academic staff and find out more about the subjects you're interested in.

Find out about how you can visit Newcastle in person and virtually.

We regularly travel overseas to meet with students interested in studying at Newcastle University. Visit our  events calendar to find out when we're visiting your region.

Visit our events calendar for the latest virtual events

Apply through UCAS

To apply for undergraduate study at Newcastle University, you must use the online application system managed by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). All UK schools and colleges, and a small number of EU and international establishments, are registered with UCAS. You will need:

• the UCAS name and institution codes for Newcastle University (NEWC/N21)
• the UCAS code for the course you want to apply for
• the UCAS 'buzzword' for your school or college

If you are applying independently, or are applying from a school or college which is not registered to manage applications, you will still use the Apply system. You will not need a buzzword.

Apply through an agent

International students often apply to us through an agent. Have a look at our recommended agents and get in touch with them.

Visit our International pages

Get in touch

Call us on  +44 (0) 191 208 3333 and press option 1. Our opening hours are Monday to Friday 10am until 4pm.

Our NCL chatbot might be able to give you an answer straight away. If not, it’ll direct you to someone who can help.

You'll find our NCL chatbot in the bottom right of this page.

Fill in our enquiry form

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We regularly send email updates and extra information about the University.

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Creative and Professional Writing Courses

CPW Home  |  Program  |  Faculty  |  Courses  |  Declaring your English major

Here is a sampling of some of the Creative and Professional Writing courses that you can take. The descriptions below are taken from selected course syllabi, so course specifics may vary somewhat from term to term. For a complete list of courses offered by the Department of English Language and Literature, see our  Course List . For a list of courses being offered in the current academic year, see  This Year's Courses .

Genres of Creative Writing ENGL 210C

Genres of Business Communication ENGL 210F

Technical Editing ENGL 210J

Speech Writing ENGL 309E

Topics in Creative Writing ENGL 332

This course offers an in-depth exploration of a selected topic in creative writing. The topic for a particular term will vary depending on the instructor, and may focus on a selected genre or form, a specific approach to writing or creative method, or other aspect of creative writing. See This Year's Courses or check with the instructor for the specific term about the topic.

Creative Writing 1 ENGL 335

Creative Writing 2 ENGL 336

Information Design ENGL 392A

Writing for the Media ENGL 408A

The Discourse of Advertising ENGL 408B