Program Overview

BA (Hons) English Literature and Creative Writing

Why study this course with LJMU?

• Professional guidance and peer review to help you develop your work to publishable standard
• Regular literary events, readings, screenings and open mic nights to showcase your work
• Our acclaimed Writer at Work module provides an opportunity for you to pursue a work-based project
• LJMU ranked 7th university in the UK for Creative Writing (The Times UK University Rankings 2025)
• LJMU ranked 18th university in the UK for English (The Times UK University Rankings 2025)
• 97% of students surveyed said academic support on our English courses was good or very good (National Student Survey 2024)
• 96% of students surveyed said the teaching staff on our Creative Writing courses were good at explaining things (National Student Survey 2024)

About your course

The BA (Hons) English Literature and Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University is designed to develop your writing skills with professional guidance and peer support from practising writers, publishers and agents.

Towards the end of your course, you will specialise in a chosen genre and get a feel for the life of a professional writer by writing independently but with guidance from tutors and the support of peers to help you review and refine your work.

A residential writers' retreat in rural Wales also gives you a chance to perfect your skills and we host a number of literary events, readings, screenings and open mic nights to showcase your work at Liverpool arts venues such as FACT, The Everyman and Tate Liverpool.

Broadly speaking, you will spend a third of your time in formal study, a third reading, and a third writing or completing assessments and private study. The programme is constantly updated, which is why we have supplied only a sample of modules you may study.

Course modules

Year 1

• Observation and Discovery (20 credits)
• Character and Story (20 credits)
• Language and Craft (20 credits)
• Literary and Cultural Theory (20 credits)
• Critical Keywords for English (20 credits)
• Liverpool Legacies (20 credits)

Year 2

• Study Semester Abroad - English and Creative Writing (60 credits)
• Study Year Abroad - English and Creative Writing (120 credits)
• Script Development (20 credits)
• Short Fiction (20 credits)
• Poetry (20 credits)
• Creative Non-fiction (20 credits)
• Screenwriting (20 credits)
• Writing for Stage & Radio (20 credits)
• Writing in Production (20 credits)
• The Fantastic (20 credits)
• Approaching Your Novel (20 credits)
• AI and the Humanities (20 credits)
• Body, Mind and Soul: seventeenth-century literature and culture (20 credits)
• Modernism and Modernity (20 credits)
• Poetry Matters (20 credits)
• Postcolonial Writing: Power, Art and Protest (20 credits)
• Romanticism: Revolution, Reaction and Representation (20 credits)
• Short Cuts: Writing in Brief (20 credits)
• The Victorians: Realism and Sensation (20 credits)
• English Work Experience (20 credits)
• English Independent Study (20 credits)
• Life Stories: Telling Tales and Keeping Secrets in Auto/Biographical Writing (20 credits)
• Forms of Slavery (20 credits)
• Gender Trouble (20 credits)
• Writing Race in Britain (20 credits)
• Words and Music (20 credits)
• Working Class Writing (20 credits)
• Theories 2.0 (20 credits)

Year 3

• Advanced Script Workshop 1 (20 credits)
• Advanced Script Workshop 2 (20 credits)
• Advanced Poetry Workshop 1 (20 credits)
• Advanced Poetry Workshop 2 (20 credits)
• Advanced Prose Workshop 1 (20 credits)
• Advanced Prose Workshop 2 (20 credits)
• Digital Writing (20 credits)
• Writer at Work: Portfolio (20 credits)
• Writer at Work: Project (20 credits)
• Independent Study (20 credits)
• Creative Writing Work Based Learning (20 credits)
• English Dissertation (20 credits)
• Feminist Fictions: Contemporary Women’s Writing and the Politics of Feminism (20 credits)
• English Independent Study (20 credits)
• Our House: Representing Domestic Space (20 credits)
• C21: British Fiction Now (20 credits)
• Race in America (20 credits)
• Shakespeare (20 credits)
• Terrorism and Modern Literature (20 credits)
• Vamps and Villains: Exploring Gothic Fiction (20 credits)
• World Literature: Writing from the Periphery (20 credits)
• Transitions: Identities in the Interwar Years (20 credits)
• Violence in Nineteenth-Century Literature (20 credits)
• Green Victorians (20 credits)
• Mind Readings (20 credits)
• Space and place: travel writing at home and abroad (20 credits)
• Developments in Contemporary Writing and Publishing (20 credits)
• Modern Fiction and Environment Crisis (20 credits)
• Black Lives in American Literature (20 credits)
• Migrants to the Screen (20 credits)
• Other Worlds (20 credits)
• The Literature of Extinction: American Writing and the Environment (20 credits)

Your Learning Experience

• Teaching Support Assessment
• Excellent facilities and learning resources
• Work-related Learning
• Dedicated personal tutor, plus study skills support

Career paths

• This BA (Hons) programme in English Literature and Creative Writing has a natural vocational slant and our graduates gain excellent analytical, communication and creative skills, ensuring them positions in a wide variety of careers, including advertising, marketing, museums, arts administration and publishing.
• Other graduates have secured positions in sectors such as industrial, retail, leisure and charitable organisation management, educational administration, accountancy, the social and Civil Services and teaching.
• Many graduates have gone on to have work published but you should be aware that professional authorship is often a second career.

Tuition fees and funding

• Home: £9,535
• International: £17,750
• Scholarships and payment plans available

Entry requirements

• GCSEs and equivalents: Grade C or Grade 4 or above in English Language and Mathematics GCSE or an approved alternative qualification
• A levels: BCC-BBB
• BTECs: Extended Diploma: DMM
• Access awards: Pass overall with a minimum of 104 points, including relevant subjects
• International Baccalaureate: 104 UCAS Tariff points from IB Composite parts to include a relevant subject at Higher Level
• OCR Cambridge Technical: Extended Diploma: DMM
• Irish awards: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications. Must include a relevant subject at Higher Level.
• Welsh awards: Welsh Baccalaureate: Acceptable only when combined with other qualifications
• T levels: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• Alternative qualifications considered: Applications are welcomed from mature and non-standard applicants, who will be considered on an individual basis. These applicants may be required to submit an essay and/or attend an interview, and should demonstrate potential and motivation and/or have relevant experience. International applications will be considered in line with UK qualifications.