Creative Writing and English Literature

Creative writing and English literature together make one of the most rewarding combinations available in the humanities, developing both the craft of writing and the critical understanding of literary tradition that sustains and enriches it. At Liverpool Hope University, the BA Creative Writing and English Literature is a three-year full-time programme that includes a sandwich year, a year abroad, and work placement, giving you extensive professional and international experience alongside a stimulating academic curriculum. Liverpool, as the programme notes, is a city with a distinctive literary culture, and you will be taught by writers and academics who are connected to that tradition and recognised internationally for their work.

The creative writing strand develops your practice across a range of forms, which typically include fiction, poetry, scriptwriting, and creative non-fiction, with workshops at the centre of the teaching model. Workshops, in which work is shared and discussed with peers and tutors, are the environment in which craft is developed, and they build both your writing ability and your capacity for critical reflection on your own work and others'. The English literature strand develops your skills in reading, analysis, and interpretation across periods, traditions, and genres, giving you the historical and critical context within which your own creative practice sits.

The sandwich year and year abroad deepen your professional and international experience substantially, while the work placement adds direct engagement with a relevant professional environment.

Graduates of creative writing and English literature programmes work in publishing, journalism, education, communications, arts administration, copywriting, and the creative industries. Some pursue writing careers directly, building publication records and professional relationships with agents, editors, and producers over time. Others go on to postgraduate study, including MFA or MA programmes in creative writing or English literature, or to teacher training.

The combination of creative confidence and analytical skill the degree develops is valuable in any career that requires engaging imaginatively with language and the texts through which human experience is expressed and explored.