English Literature and Creative Writing BA(Hons)

Course in brief

This course is for students who are passionate about literature and want to apply their critical reading skills to writing practice.

You are encouraged to write in a variety of styles and develop an understanding of the techniques and skills involved in storytelling across a range of genres. We support you to think about your writing inside and outside the classroom, as you engage in various teaching and learning styles that connect your creative and writing practices with social engagements.

Our award-winning tutors enable you to become a motivated thinker and writer with critical and creative writing skills. You will be able to link your awareness of technique, form and style to the craft of writing and consider texts and your own work in relation to political, social and cultural theories.

We have a reputation for working with local publishers and writers to develop your understanding of the craft. We also have specific modules that allow you to work with a community group or company to develop your writing and reflect critically on your practice.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Falmer

UCAS code Q311

Full-time 3 years
With year abroad 4 years

Book your open day place

Applying for 2018: read our guide

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

A-level or BTEC
Entry requirements are in the range of A-level BCC–CCC (104–96 UCAS Tariff points), or BTEC Extended Diploma DMM–MMM. Our conditional offers typically fall within this range.

A-levels must include English literature or combined English language and literature.

We will generally make you an offer if your predicted grades are at the top of this range. If your predicted grades are towards the lower end of this range we may still make you an offer if you have a good GCSE (or equivalent) profile or relevant non-academic achievements.

International Baccalaureate
27 points.

Access to HE Diploma
Pass with 60 credits overall. Humanities, history or politics courses preferred. At least 45 credits at level 3.

GCSE (minimum grade C or grade 4)
At least English language and maths.

Studied before or got relevant experience?
A qualification, HE credits or relevant experience may count towards your course at Brighton, and could mean that you do not have to take some elements of the course or can start in year 2 or 3. Ask our enquiries team for more information. Contact them through the Find out more tab below.

For non-native speakers of English
IELTS 6.0 overall, with 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in the other elements.

International equivalencies

International equivalencies by country

Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visit our language institute

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College

For academic preparation courses.

Course in detail

Why study with us?

You’ll study at our Falmer campus on the edge of Brighton and the South Downs, with its outstanding modern facilities and easy access to the city centre, and its well-established arts and social scene.

Our talented teaching team create a dynamic and supportive environment where you will be challenged and helped to learn and grow. They will guide you to think critically and creatively, develop detailed methods of analysis and interpretation and precisely communicate your ideas.

You will be able to use skills acquired through this course and enhance your individual professional and personal development by taking advantage of volunteer placements with local community projects and city schools by becoming involved with local events.

Guest speaker sessions will give you the chance to meet inspirational writers like bestselling novelist Peter James and scriptwriter Graham Duff.

There are chances for your work to reach a wider audience through submissions to online journal brightONLINE, subject-related student societies such as the Literature Society and the University of Brighton Drama Society (BUDS) and by taking part in a collaborative anthology and a graduate show.

You'll gain vital transferable skills including personal organisation, independent research, team working, communication and presentation that you can use throughout your career.

This joint honours degree provides good grounding for many different industries including publishing and journalism, but equally provides a solid foundation for further study or research.

University of Brighton Literature Society (BULS) Open Mic Night

Checkland building, Falmer campus

Course structure

Full-time students have 10–11 hours contact time a week in lectures, seminars and workshops, but you are also expected to carry out independent study. Part-time study is possible and can be tailored to suit individual needs.

Our courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis in order to make sure that what you learn with us is relevant and that your course enables you to develop appropriate skills. When you apply to study with us, we will inform you of any new developments in your chosen programme through our applicant portal.

Year 1

Modules

Narrative Literary Texts
Practices of Reading and Writing
Literature and Theory
Drama in Society
English Poetry in Context
Storying the Self

Year 2

Modules

Creative Writing: Process and Craft
British Literature and Twentieth-century History
The Nineteenth Century in Literature
Research and Practice

Options*

One from:

Image and Text: The Language of Comics and Graphic Novels
Writing for Stage, Radio and Screen

One from:

Videogames Culture
Science Fiction: Screens, Texts, Theories
British Television Drama
Memory, History and Trauma On-screen
Intercultural Awareness Module
Studying Travel Writing
Queer Writing
Literature in Practice
Literature and Art History
American Literature 1850–1945
Research and Practice
Regional Englishes
Media in Practice
Introduction to Journalism
Television Studio Production
Photography: From Painting with Light to Zeros and Ones
Documentary Filmmaking: Theory and Practice
Contested Stories
Spanish (Reflective Language Learning Module)
French (Reflective Language Learning Module)
German (Reflective Language Learning Module)

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Final year

Modules

Dissertation
Final Year Conference

Three from a wide selection of options*, including:

Screen Comedy
Children's Screen Cultures
Framing Women: The 'Female' in Popular Screen Culture
Community Engagement in Practice
Russian Literature and Culture: The Golden Age and Beyond
(Re)viewing Shakespeare
Apocalypse, Utopia and Dystopia
Literature and Philosophy
Post-war American Literature
Women's Writing and Feminist Theory
Restoration Drama
Adaptations
Creative Writing Project
Conflict, MIgration, Borders
Gothic: Texts and Contexts
Victorian Sexualities
Brighton Rocks
Writing the Contemporary
Postcolonial Literatures
European Literatures and Film
Final Year Conference
Culture Wars: Revisiting the Great Divide
World Englishes
Language of Gender and Sexuality
Approaches to Analysing Discourse
English Language Teaching
Television News Production
Popular Culture: Europe and Beyond
From Script to Screen
Images of War
Autobiography of the Screen
Media Ethics and Conflict
French (Cultural Project Module)
German (Cultural Project Module)
Spanish (Cultural Project Module)

Students must take at least one literature-related module and one writing-related module.

**Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Watch students talking about their experiences of the Community Placement module.

Staff profile

Jess Moriarty

Jess Moriarty researches in the field of pedagogy in writing practice, especially in auto-ethnographical academic writing and in creative writing with undergraduates.

She graduated from the University of Sussex with a Creative Writing MA in 2002 and joined the University of Brighton soon after. Jess won a Teaching Excellence award for her workshops with undergraduates, in which she aims to ignite inspiration and motivation with the writing process.

Jess is the co-founder of Work Write Live, which provides a range of writing short courses and volunteering opportunities for students across arts and humanities courses to develop the vocational and academic skills they are acquiring on their degree programme. She has been interviewed by the Times Higher Educational Supplement about her workshops and won an Innovation Award for her retreats, where participants are encouraged to develop confidence with writing and speaking. Under the banner of Work Write Live, students are able to run open mic evenings, produce creative writing anthologies and organise an end-of-year graduate show.

Jess's doctorate looked at how to make academic writing more personal and creative and included a play based on her autobiographical and researched experiences with academic life. Her work looks at cross-disciplinary practice, community engagement and linking creative processes with the employability agenda.

Course statistics

Unistats and key information sets

Unistats enable you to compare information when choosing a UK university course. All UK universities publish Unistats data on their website.

Programme specification

The programme specification is the approved description of each course. They are updated following course changes, and give a detailed breakdown of the content and structure of the course.

Programme specification

These charts give an indication of how much time you will spend on different activities at each level of the course, and an indication of the balance of assessment by coursework, and written and practical exams. For courses with option modules, actual proportions will depend on the modules you choose.

Find out more about how the academic year and degree courses are organised, and about learning and assessment activities you might get to grips with at Brighton. More specific information about this course is detailed in the programme specification (linked above). You can find out also about the range of support we offer to help you adjust to university life.

Overall workload

Assessments

Careers and employability

The course will help you to develop skills in critical thinking, storytelling, presenting, teamwork and independent research. You will also develop an advanced knowledge of the discipline and its place outside the classroom.

Graduates may go on to further study, for example through our innovative Creative Writing MA. You could also pursue a career in publishing, social media, marketing, teaching, journalism, public relations or human resources.

Fees and funding

Your fees

UK/EU (full-time) 9,250 GBP

International (full-time) 12,660 GBP

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2017–18.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full- or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

Forward-thinking and welcoming, the city of Brighton & Hove is a community of creative and diverse people who share values like sustainability and inclusivity – just like its university.

Miles of pebble beaches, hundreds of bars, restaurants and clubs, a packed calendar of culture, music and sport and great independent and high street shopping attract visitors from all over the world. By the end of your course you’ll still be finding new things to enjoy about the city.

The Brighton Festival, England’s largest arts festival, takes place every May – as does the Great Escape Europe’s leading industry showcase for new music, 300 bands perform over three days at venues across the city. Major events celebrate Pride, digital culture, cinema, photography, food and the winter solstice. Our own Brighton Graduate show is a highlight, turning the university into the largest exhibition space in the south east as we celebrate the outstanding creativity of our students.

As a student here you’ll have a unique opportunity to experience what the city has to offer. Volunteering and placement opportunities enable you to play your part in the events, organisations and communities that make Brighton such a compelling place to be.

Campus where this course is taught

Falmer campus

Surrounded by the South Downs National Park and just five miles from the centre of Brighton, our Falmer campus has benefited from over £60million of investment over the past 10 years. 7,000 students are based here, studying subjects including English, education, social science, nursing and medicine.

Recent developments include the Falmer Sports Centre – with its fitness suites and sports hall – and the innovative Checkland Building, which has natural ventilation systems and an insulating green roof.

Falmer has also recently installed more than 600 solar panels, which reduce the campus’s carbon emissions by more than 80 tonnes. The renovation has made us one of the top universities in the UK for on-site renewable energy production.

Accommodation

Brighton

Our Brighton halls of residence are located across the city in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

Grand Parade is in central Brighton and has one hall of residence, Phoenix Brewery, within walking distance.
Moulsecoomb is two miles from the city centre and also has one hall of residence, Moulsecoomb Place, on campus.
Varley Park offers the biggest choice of student accommodation with ten halls of residence.
Falmer campus has two halls of residence: Great Wilkins and Paddock Field.
Varley Park and Falmer are around four miles from Brighton centre; there are good public transport services nearby.

Aside from halls, you have the option of Unihomes, which we let out to our students on behalf of private landlords.

You can also choose to join the many students who live away from campus in private rented accommodation. We have a list of high-quality, university-endorsed private sector accommodation and can help you find housemates to move in with.

Find out more on our Brighton accommodation webpages and if you have any questions, our accommodation team will be happy to help. You can contact them by email at accommodation@brighton.ac.uk or by telephone on 01273 644100.

Paddock Field

Moulsecoomb Place

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Falmer campus and Brighton and Sussex Medical School map

Find out more

Language, literature and linguistics news

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