BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing

Core modules

Drama, Script and Performance

On this module, you will learn about the history of drama as a cultural and literary form. Each week, you will read a play from a different historical period, learn about its cultural, social and historical context, and explore in discussion some of the ways in which that context is echoed and reflected in the writing.

The Business of Independent Publishing

On this module you will learn how to utilise your skills to create content for a new type of client, marketplace and audience by discovering the extended business opportunities independent publishing affords.

Monsters, Madness and Marriage in 19th Century Literature

Through this module you will learn about how nineteenth century marriage and property law is discussed in the fiction of the period and about the impact this had on women and those traditionally ‘othered’ in literature.

Literature and Film of the 'New World'

This module explores the idea of the ‘New World’ at both the academic and practical level, particularly through literature and film that fictionally represents the tensions between indigenous peoples and the settlers who considered themselves entitled to conquer these ‘new’ lands.

Writing the Novel

In this module you will study a range of literary and genre fiction texts to determine what constitutes gripping and engaging writing. By examining both character and plot-based stories you will get a fully-rounded picture of all the elements which combine to constitute a good story well told.

Speculative Fiction

This module introduces the idea of fictions that speculate on ‘what might be’ and ‘in the future, perhaps it will be possible to’ from science fiction and fantasy to dystopian horrors and imaginative stories for young adults.

Core modules

Modernism: Transformative and Criminal Texts

This module will help you to see how the study of literature in the periods preceding it, leads to the fracturing and resistance that takes place in visual art, literature, music and the theatre in the long 20th century.

Dissertation/FMP

In this independent research project, you will have the chance to shine. Here is the place you get to demonstrate the knowledge, understanding, skills and abilities you have developed over the course of your studies.

After Empire: Postmodern, Postcolonial, or Post-truth?

In response to the changing nature of what it means to be British today, this module considers some of the wide body of experimental and contemporary literature representing the postmodern, postcolonial British identity crisis.

Optional modules

Please note: Not all optional modules are guaranteed to run each year.

Writing and Selling Creative Non-Fiction

During this module you will examine the ‘literature of reality’ and utilise both literary and journalistic techniques to render a true story, making it as dramatic, appealing and compelling as possible, while maintaining its integrity and veracity by ensuring its underlying facts are unaltered.

Work Experience

This is a hands-on, practical module where you will learn from others, most importantly, those who are in the work world. You will learn from their experiences and from your own.

Minority Experiences in Anglophone Literature

This module explores representations of minority experiences in various Anglophone texts from the 20th-21st centuries.

Radical Re-Readings

This lively module offers you the chance to explore how well-known source texts such as Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Homer’s Odyssey, and the book of Genesis have been radically rewritten into new texts for contemporary audiences.