Creative Writing and English Literature with a Placement Year

Creative writing and English literature is one of the most productive pairings in university humanities education. Literary study develops the critical intelligence to understand how writing works and why some texts endure, while creative writing puts that intelligence to work in the practice of writing itself. Reading great literature carefully, and attempting to write with purpose and craft, are activities that enrich one another: the writer becomes a more perceptive reader, and the critic develops a practical understanding of the choices and difficulties that writers face.

At the University of East Anglia, which is one of the most celebrated creative writing programmes in the world, home to the MA that shaped a generation of British novelists and poets, this four-year programme includes a placement year, giving you the opportunity to work in a professional context such as publishing, literary agencies, arts organisations, education or media. You will study English literature across periods and traditions, developing close reading and critical writing skills, while the creative writing strand takes you through fiction, poetry, non-fiction and other forms, with regular workshop feedback and the development of your own distinctive voice. The typical entry tariff is 136 UCAS points.

Graduates work as writers (in various forms and at various stages of a developing career), in publishing as editors, agents or rights managers, in literary journalism, copywriting, content strategy, education, arts administration, broadcasting and communications. The placement year provides professional grounding that strengthens employability across all these pathways. UEA's extraordinary connections in the literary world, including its ongoing relationship with publishers, agents and working writers, give graduates access to professional networks that many find invaluable.

Many also continue to postgraduate study in creative writing, English or publishing.