English and Creative Writing

English and creative writing is a combination that gives you both the critical understanding of literary tradition and the practical skill of making new writing within it. English literature teaches you to read carefully, to understand how texts create meaning, and to locate works within the historical and cultural contexts that shaped them. Creative writing develops your ability to generate, draft, and revise your own work across prose, poetry, and other forms, using the analytical understanding that literary study develops as the foundation for creative practice.

At Coventry this three-year full-time programme provides a supportive and inclusive creative environment in which your ideas shape your learning. You will engage with a wide range of texts from the English literary tradition and from world literature in translation, developing your critical reading alongside your creative output. The programme includes a sandwich year and work placement activity, giving you the opportunity to work in a professional context, whether that is in publishing, the creative industries, education, or another field where English and creative writing graduates practise.

A year abroad is also available, exposing you to literary and creative cultures outside the UK and enriching both your reading and your writing.

Graduates of English and creative writing programmes move into a wide range of careers. Some practise as writers, often combining their own writing with teaching, editing, or work in related fields. Others move into publishing, journalism, arts administration, education, copywriting, content creation, public relations, and broadcasting.

The critical thinking, communication, and writing skills the degree develops are genuinely transferable, and employers across many sectors value the ability to read, write, and communicate with clarity and precision. Postgraduate study in creative writing, English literature, or publishing is a common next step for those who want to develop their practice or pursue an academic career.