English Literature with Creative Writing
English literature and creative writing is a combination that draws on two deeply complementary activities: the careful reading of what others have written and the practice of writing yourself. Great writers are almost always great readers, and the discipline of literary study, which asks you to attend closely to how texts work, what they mean, and why they matter, is among the best possible training for a writer. At the same time, the practice of writing illuminates literary study, because composing your own work in different genres and forms teaches you things about those forms that reading alone cannot.
This three-year full-time programme at Cardiff University develops both strands alongside each other. You will study English literature across a range of periods, genres, and critical traditions, from medieval texts to contemporary fiction and poetry, developing the close reading, critical thinking, and analytical writing skills that literary study demands. The creative writing component introduces you to fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, guiding you through the craft elements of each form through workshops, one-to-one tutorials, and sustained practice.
Cardiff has a strong Welsh literary context that enriches the programme, and the English department has a good reputation for both its literary scholarship and its creative writing provision.
Graduates from this programme pursue careers as writers, editors, journalists, copywriters, teachers, arts administrators, publicists, and communications professionals. Many work in publishing, the media, advertising, education, and the creative industries, where the combination of reading widely and writing well is directly applicable. Others develop careers as novelists, poets, or non-fiction writers alongside other professional roles.
Postgraduate options include master's degrees in creative writing, publishing, English literature, and journalism, and the programme provides a strong academic basis for any of these routes.