Program Overview

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English with Creative Writing (BA)

Award

Bachelor of Arts

Typical Offer

AAB

Duration

3 years

Course Type

Full-time

Campus

Avenue

UCAS Course code

CW01

About this course

On this course, you'll develop your creative and critical writing and discover the links between literature and visual culture, science, and politics. You'll be guided by our award-winning novelists, journalists and playwrights.

This creative writing degree allows you to choose from creative writing and English options each year, building your knowledge of a range of genres and traditions. You'll be encouraged to make connections between your critical and creative practice throughout the course.

We will also support your professional practice with:

• an arts ambassador scheme
• regular readings and writers' events
• paid internships in arts organisations

You'll have the opportunity to study abroad, spending a semester, a summer or even a full year at one of our global partner universities.

As part of this course you can:

• join one of 40 student-led performing arts groups
• study film and visual culture
• take part in writing workshops at Nuffield Southampton Theatres
• use a unique collection of rare books at the Chawton House Library
• learn a modern language at any level
• join a student-run English society for social events
• explore experimental writing with our Entropics events
• get media experience with our student societies for film, TV and radio

League table rankings

English at Southampton is a top 10 English department in the UK (Times Good University Guide, 2025).

We're also ranked:

• second in the Russell Group for teaching quality and student experience, and satisfaction with feedback (Times Good University and Guardian University guides, 2025).
• a top 5 department for professional level graduate outcomes (Guardian University Guide, 2025)

We regularly review our courses to ensure and improve quality. This course may be revised as a result of this. Any revision will be balanced against the requirement that the student should receive the educational service expected. Find out why, when, and how we might make changes.

Our courses are regulated in England by the Office for Students (OfS).

Facilities

• Main library
• Digital humanities facilities

Course location

This course is based at Avenue.

Awarding body

This qualification is awarded by the University of Southampton.

Download the Course Description Document

The Course Description Document details your course overview, your course structure and how your course is taught and assessed.

Entry requirements

For Academic year 2025/26

• A-levels: AAB including an essay writing subject
• International Baccalaureate Diploma: Pass, with 34 points overall with 17 points at Higher Level, including 5 at Higher Level in English Literature or another relevant essay writing subject.
• BTEC: Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Diploma plus A in an A level essay writing subject or Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Diploma plus A in an A level essay writing subject or Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Certificate plus A in an A level essay writing subject and A in one further A level.

For Academic year 2026/27

• A-levels: ABB
• International Baccalaureate Diploma: Pass, with 32 points overall with 16 points at Higher Level
• BTEC: Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Diploma plus B in an A level, or Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Diploma plus B in an A level, or Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Certificate plus AB from 2 A levels.

Course structure

Year 1 overview

• 3 core modules that give you a foundation in critical thinking, essay writing and group research.
• 1 introductory module on creative writing, which will explore story structure.
• Optional modules on topics including:
  • world drama
  • poetic language
  • migration and literature

Year 2 overview

• Core modules in 4 areas of creative writing:
  • short stories
  • scriptwriting
  • experimental writing
  • how writers influence each other
• Core modules in Renaissance culture, romanticism, and modernism.
• Optional modules across English, film studies, philosophy and beyond, including:
  • African worlds
  • Victorian feelings
  • sweatshops, sex workers and asylum seekers: world literature and visual culture after globalisation
  • images of women
  • film adaptation

Year 3 overview

• Core creative writing modules covering:
  • writing the novel
  • narrative non-fiction
  • creative writing in schools
  • poetry and the non-human
• Optional modules from a wide range of literary topics, including:
  • literatures of islands and oceans
  • American drama
  • utopias and dystopias
  • the historical novel

Modules

Year 1 modules

• A Stranger Comes to Town: Introduction to Creative Writing
• Literary Transformations
• Poetic Language
• The Act of the Essay
• The Novel
• English on the Move
• The Invention of English Literature: Medieval to Early Modern
• Theory & Criticism
• World Dramas

Year 2 modules

• Brief Encounters: Writing Short Stories
• Humanities Study Abroad Preparation Module
• Year Abroad Report Module for Humanities Students
• Year in Employment
• African Freedoms and The Novel
• Corpus Linguistics: Working with large-scale text data
• Decolonising Modernity
• Experiment!
• Film, Realism and Reality: representing the world, from revolution to the everyday
• Great Writers Steal: Creative Writing and Critical Thinking
• Queens, Devils and Players in Early Modern England
• Queering the Digital
• Revolutions in English Literature
• Romantics and Victorians
• Scriptwriting
• Songs of the Earth: Landscapes and Environments of Early Medieval England
• Speech Acts
• Sweatshops, Sex workers, and Asylum Seekers: World Literature and Visual Culture after Globalisation
• The Early Modern Body
• The Worlding of English Literature

Year 3 modules

• English Dissertation
• American Gothic
• Animal Forms: poetry and the non-human
• Authoring Austen: Writing, Reception and Adaptation
• Creative Writing in Schools
• Fantasy Film and Fiction
• Holocaust Literature
• Shakespeare Then and Now
• Songs of the Earth: Landscapes and Environments of Early Medieval England
• Telling True Stories: Narrative Non-Fiction
• The Origins of Climate Crisis: Ecology in Victorian Literature
• Utopias and Dystopias in Literature and Culture
• Writing Queerness
• Writing the Novel

Learning and assessment

• Lectures
• Classes and tutorials
• Coursework
• Individual and group projects
• Independent learning (studying on your own)

Academic support

• Personal academic tutor
• Senior tutor

Course leader

• Toby Litt

Careers and employability

• Employability skills:
  • Research
  • Critical thinking
  • Self-management
  • Confidence
  • Communication
  • Creativity
  • Problem solving
  • Resilience
• Career pathways:
  • Digital copywriter
  • Editorial assistant
  • Journalist
  • Copy editor
  • Proofreader
  • Secondary school teacher
  • Web content manager
  • Writer
  • Social media content creator
  • English as a foreign language teacher
• Wider career opportunities:
  • Academic librarian
  • Advertising copywriter
  • Arts administrator
  • Education consultant
  • Information officer
  • Marketing executive
  • Media researcher
  • Primary school teacher
  • Public relations officer
  • Social media manager
• Example job titles of Southampton BA English with Creative writing graduates:
  • Barristers clerk
  • Editorial assistant
  • Content coordinator
  • Copy writer
  • Editor and production assistant
  • Public relations and communications analyst
  • Publishing assistant
  • Sales and marketing assistant
  • Senior Account executive
  • Secondary school teacher

Fees, costs and funding

• Tuition fees:
  • UK students: £9,535
  • EU and international students: £23,400
• What your fees pay for:
  • Full cost of tuition and standard exams
• Accommodation and living costs, such as travel and food, are not included in your tuition fees.
• There may also be extra costs for retake and professional exams.

Related courses

• BA English
• BA English and History
• BA English and History with Year Abroad
• BA English and Modern Languages
• BA English Language and Literature
• BA Film and English
• BA Film and English with Year Abroad
• BA Liberal Arts
• BA Philosophy and English