English with Creative Writing with Year Abroad

English with Creative Writing with Year Abroad brings together literary criticism, creative practice and the transformative experience of studying in another country. Literature and creative writing are disciplines that benefit enormously from exposure to different cultural contexts, different ways of telling stories, and different traditions of reading and writing. A year abroad is not simply a break from your home institution: it is an integral part of your intellectual and creative formation.

At the University of Southampton, the four-year full-time degree develops your critical and creative capacities simultaneously, drawing on the insight that writers who read closely are better writers, and that critics who write understand texts in ways that pure analysis cannot reach. You will explore the links between literature and visual culture, science and politics, developing a broad and contextually rich understanding of what writing does and why it matters. The creative writing strand is taught by award-winning novelists, journalists and playwrights, and the emphasis throughout is on connecting critical understanding to your own creative work.

The year abroad, built into the structure of the four-year degree, gives you the opportunity to study at a partner institution in another country, encountering different literary traditions and academic cultures. This experience tends to sharpen your sense of what is distinctive about the English literary tradition and to open up the comparative perspective that the best literary critics bring to their work.

Graduates of English with Creative Writing degrees work in publishing, journalism, copywriting, broadcasting, education, communications, public relations and the arts. Many pursue freelance writing careers or combine creative work with other employment. Postgraduate study in creative writing, English literature or journalism is a well-travelled route for those who want to develop further expertise or pursue academic careers.