91¶¶Òõ

International requirements and visas

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

Visas and immigration advice

Top reasons to choose this course

• Staff are active writers – you will learn from published novelists, poets and screenwriters.

• Strong local publishing connections – we organise a programme of visiting writers and publishing professionals. .

• Scrivener talks give you the chance to speak to a professional writer about their work.

• Our focus on employability, including a placement, ensures you will graduate as an emerging writer with a strong skillset.

• Extracurricular activities such as the Performance and Community Research and Enterprise Group and the student-led Creative Writing Society.

• Alumni making a difference – graduates from our programmes include Paris Lees, Merci Roberts, Munroe Bergdorf and Tanaka Mhisi.

• Excellent student support and a warm and encouraging community.

• Weekly roundup of writing competitions and opportunities to encourage you to promote your work and consider future careers.

• Workshops and spoken word events help you find your writing voice.

• Professional feedback on any aspect of your writing from our resident Royal Literary Fund Fellow.

Year 1

Your first year focuses on understanding the different approaches to literary texts from both a creative and critical standpoint. You will study a wide variety of texts, including film, novels, poetry, theatre, short stories and autobiography.

Modules

• 91¶¶Òõ Writes

  91¶¶Òõ is a vibrant and unique place that has impacted on British and European culture as well being at the forefront of social changes since the eighteenth century. This module is a literary and cultural exploration of 91¶¶Òõ as a place. You will engage and connect with 91¶¶Òõ’s history, literary culture and your own creative writing practice. The module benefits from several city trips which will bring learning materials to life.

• The World, the Text and the Critic

  Taking inspiration from Edward Said’s book The World, the Text, and the Critic (1983), this module enables you to explore some of the key debates in contemporary literary studies. Organised around decolonial, feminist, queer, ecocritical and other approaches to texts, you will develop critical writing skills and knowledge of social, cultural and political contexts in the interpretation of literary works and the wider world. 

• Poetry-Politics-Protest

  This module explores poetry from a diverse selection of writers, time periods and cultures. Learning how to analyse and interpret poetry and understand poetic forms and techniques, you'll discuss poetry as a political act, form of protest and agent of social change to discover the dynamic possibilities of poetry as a relevant means of communication and connection essential in our changing world. Students co-create this module and you'll develop your own practice through curating a poetry anthology.

• Staging Politics

  How might theatre engage audiences with the politics of class, race, gender, sexuality and the environment? You’ll examine a range of plays in context, exploring how provocative stories develop through characterisation, stage directions, dialogue and dramatic action. Learn to think critically and creatively about theatrical texts and how to write scripts for stage in inclusive collaborations with your peers.

• Storying The Self

  This module will introduce you to practices of storying the self in writing and digital media. Through creating a first person story combining audio script, music and still image, you will engage with the expressive complexities of autobiographical representation. The module will also give you the creative writing tools to experiment with storying the self in a variety of written genre.

• Writers on Writing

  Explore the concept of a professional writerly identity and consider a ‘writing life’ in personal, local and global terms. Through studying and contact with professional writers, you will investigate writing as self-expression, craft, process and profession; curating a writerly identity/persona; developing your writing towards your future career; and the writing life and its implications on the global stage, for example as an act of resistance to inequalities.

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 .

Year 2

In your second year you can tailor your degree to your interests. There are placement opportunities available in year 2 as well as field trips to theatres, museums, schools and other community projects.

You can also choose option modules from across our humanities and arts subjects.

At the end of your second year you will have the opportunity to study abroad.

Modules

Core modules

• Stories that Transform: Reading and Writing for Change

  You will explore a variety of writing styles and genres during this module and consider the potential storytelling has to transform readers and writers. You will experiment with different writing styles, voices and techniques to develop your storytelling craft. These could take the form of styles such as prose, poetry or script, but may also include narrative forms that blend image and text.

• The Nineteenth Century in Literature

  This module introduces some of the most important writings in and cultural debates of the nineteenth century, focusing on the Victorian period between 1837 and 1901. You will explore the social and intellectual contexts of Victorian literature, as well as the relationship between author, reader and text, and the expectations of the reading public.

• British Literature and Twentieth-Century History

  This module will examine how British novels, plays and poems challenged or endorsed political, economic and social issues during the middle decades of the twentieth century. You will explore the key themes of war, class, counterculture, ideological conflict, national identity and social change. Authors studied may include Walter Greenwood, George Orwell, John Osborne, Doris Lessing, Hanif Kureishi and Pat Barker.

• Research and Practice

  This module introduces the research skills and methods appropriate to undergraduate study of creative writing and prepares you for your third-year dissertation or creative/critical project. You will learn the relevant traditions, approaches and methods to collecting, creating and analysing materials and apply your knowledge in workshop exercises. Both cultural and ‘life’ texts are covered.

Options*

• Television Studio Production

  This module teaches you practical and theoretical approaches to television studio production. You will develop the skills required to work collaboratively in order to manage a three camera TV studio and produce your own television programme choosing from genres such as magazine shows, current affairs, reality TV and panel quizzes.

• Contemporary Narratives and Society

  In this module you will explore the ways in which social, cultural and political changes and their effects on society and the individual have been explored in contemporary narratives. You will also investigate how these narratives act as vehicles for the expression of and engagement with political and social issues.

• Genres

  You will study a range of genre and sub-genre specialisms in drama, poetry and prose, with a view to developing your own creative practice in one or more of these. You’ll reflect on the place of genre in storytelling and in the publishing ecosystem and on the distinctions between highbrow, lowbrow and commercial writing. You’ll also look at how genre conventions may be productively or unproductively used and how genre may be used as a cultural lens.

• Writing for Stage, Radio and Screen

  You will develop the ability to write engaging and inspiring scripts across stage, radio and screen during this module. You’ll analyse a range of produced work and relate your own practice to that of other writers. The module will provide you with a sense of the creative and professional opportunities available in writing for each of the three media.

• Professional Practice and Placement

  In this module, you will undertake a work placement or creative project where you’ll put into practice the skills and knowledge you’ve learned throughout your degree. It will enable you to follow up on areas of particular interest and gain insight into the kinds of roles and work you may wish to enter into in future. It will develop your employability skills, confidence and knowledge of your professional and personal self.

• American Literature 1850-1945

  This module will introduce you to some of the major writings in American Literature between 1850 and 1945. It puts the work of the key American writers into a historical context and places particular emphasis on the differences between the European and American literature of this time. You will study authors including Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison and Jack Kerouac.

• Travel Narratives Through Time and Space

  This module will introduce you to a range of texts including semi-fictional travel adventure stories, pilgrimage narratives, prescriptive tourist guides, letters from abroad, travel journalism, blogs, memoir, scholarly travelogue, fiction and visual representations (film, photos). You will explore how gender, class, colonialism and post-colonialism shape the travel narrative, the intercultural experience of the traveller, migration and mobility.

• Twentieth Century Literary Experiments

  This module explores a selection of twentieth-century writing, focusing on some of the key experiments in modernist and postmodernist writing and looking at these as part of a wider cultural change. You will explore ways to situate literary innovation within a social and historical context and look at some prominent themes. You’ll also study technical and formal innovation in poetry and prose.

• Queer Writing

  In this module you will explore a tradition of LGBTQ+ writing in the context of the history and politics of sexuality and queer identities over the past two centuries. The module uses key dates in that history to examine and debate how representation and writing have been both tools of oppression and liberation. Primary texts and films/TV shows could include The Well of Loneliness, Stone Butch Blues, The Black Flamingo, Swimming in the Dark and Fairytales for Lost Children.

• Literature and Art History

  Literature and Art History introduces the interrelationship between literature and fine art and addresses two key issues: how to study a text’s broader cultural setting and how to use art history to enhance literary analysis. You will explore topics including the illustrated manuscript, visual realism, the literary imagination, ‘painterly’ literature, ‘poetic’ painting, language and the word as art objects, writers’ responses to art, and the impact on literature of radical modes of visual representation, such as abstraction and minimalism.

• Power and Persuasion

  In this module, you will explore how power and persuasion are created, legitimised and challenged by examining a range of discourse types. You will study theoretical approaches to understanding the art of persuasion, drawing upon the literature of rhetoric and notions of power. You’ll examine different types of media, apply theoretical and analytical perspectives and locate the texts and their creators within their political, social and cultural contexts.

• Photography – From Painting with Light to Zeroes and Ones

  In this module you will look at photographic representation from social and historical viewpoints and in terms of truth and reality, visual culture and narrative. You will learn to take and manipulate images using Adobe Photoshop through practical workshops that introduce the main functions of this package along with studio photography techniques. This will enable you to build up a portfolio of work that replicates the work of an influential photographer or the contextual roles photographs play in society.

• Image and Text: The Language of Comics and Graphic Novels

  This module will teach you to deconstruct comics and graphic novels and explore how the interrelationship between text and image generates meaning. You will look at the formal properties of the page, such as panels, borders, gridding, speech bubbles and artist style, and investigate how these impact and inform the text. You will also explore the ways in which comics are used to reflect personal, local and global issues.

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

Placements 

In year 2 you can choose a placement module which will allow you to gain professional experience in industries such as publishing, broadcasting, social media marketing, PR and the charity sector. 

Recent placement hosts include:

• Prsnt

In year 3 you can choose the Community Placement module aimed at further building your professional experience. This is 30 to 50 hours of voluntary work with a not-for-profit or community organisation. The placement is assessed and contributes to your degree.

Mia Kurian, graduate

“My placement was with Metropolitan City Church 91¶¶Òõ as their Social Media Manager. I learnt a lot about myself and my interests and the type of career I may want to pursue. I got to try my hand at website design, something I had never done before, and it was a great opportunity for me to expand my creativity. Professionally, I gained a lot of experience that has been extremely useful in my career today. I learnt about creating brand cohesion and creating a brand image from scratch, something I’ve never done before.

"I absolutely loved it. It was an incredible learning experience as well as insightful. It allowed me to learn a lot about myself and the future I want. My placement manager was lovely and supportive and allowed me the freedom to explore my creativity.”

Final year

In your final year you will work towards your dissertation and choose from a wide range of option areas. In the second semester, you will collaborate with your peers on a conference where you will showcase your research and writing at a public event.

Modules

Core modules

• Dissertation

  In this module you will undertake an academic investigation which will extend and evaluate your understanding of your chosen topic(s). You will also design, manage and complete independent research in this area. Workshops will offer guidance on planning a project, writing an academic blog, research practice and methodology and formulating research questions, and you will be allocated a supervisor to support you throughout your project.

• Creative Dissertation

  In this module, you will work closely with a supervisor to undertake an academic investigation to develop your understanding of your chosen subject area(s) and your sense of yourself as a researcher, writer and artist. Workshops and seminars will provide guidance on framing the enquiry, the use and interpretation of published critical and theoretical material, structure of the dissertation and critical debate.

• 91¶¶Òõ Rocks: Final Year Show

  This module will enable you to critically reflect on your academic and personal development throughout your time at 91¶¶Òõ University and the ways in which you are equipped to meet personal, local and global challenges. You will gain experience presenting, exhibiting or performing your work in a conference setting and, together with other students, will organise a final year show.

Options*

• Russian Literature and Culture: The Golden Age and Beyond

  You will study selected works of Russian fiction in English translation in this module and critically analyse the influence of major historical, political and socio-economic events. You’ll explore notions of civilization and national and cultural identity, as well as the ways in which authors have supported or opposed ideologies and beliefs circulating within Russia.

• Popular Culture: Europe and Beyond

  This module examines the interrelation between society, popular culture and the media across Europe and beyond with regard to ideology, power and control. You will learn to compare, contrast and critically assess various genres of popular culture and media texts – for example news, documentaries, popular TV shows and music videos – from different countries.

• Autobiography and the Screen

  Autobiographical and first-person filmmaking is where the subjectivity of the filmmaker comes to the fore. This module explores the lives of filmmakers and their subjects, and investigates film practices which represent self and other in ways that go beyond the personal and particular. You will look at topics including the vocabulary, techniques and styles of personal documentary, ethical issues and reflexivity in personal film.

• Postwar American Literature

  You will look at the diversity of American Literature in this module, stretching from the postwar period to the end of the twentieth century. Looking at the genres and forms of Postwar American literature, for example the modern American novel, poetry and the short story, you will examine the ways in which American literature both documents and responds to the changing social, cultural and political contexts of the twentieth century.

• Restoration Dramas

  British theatre is defined by its engagement with its own history; this module will look at 17th-century dramatic texts and how they reflected the culture, politics, theatre and society of the time, focusing on their exploration of and challenge to cultural identities and ideas. During the module, you will write and produce a contemporary-style theatre programme for an actual or imagined seventeenth-century production of a restoration play.

• (Re)viewing Shakespeare

  In this module you will re-view Shakespeare by looking at his drama within the playing and political contexts of 1590 to 1615 and explore our contemporary interpretations of his work by understanding the place and meaning of ‘Shakespeare’ in our culture. You will see his plays performed during theatre visits and write a review of one of the works you have seen or studied.

• Literature and Philosophy

  Literature and Philosophy introduces key philosophical ideas and practices by exploring how some literary texts both exemplify philosophical problems and provide distinctive and valuable approaches to them. You will learn to combine philosophical and critical approaches to literary texts using philosophical exposition and exegesis, literary theory, and skills of textual analysis.

• Conflict, Migration, Borders

  This module examines the mass displacement of refugees from areas of conflict and the search for sanctuary in the EU. Through a variety of genres, including novels, short stories, testimonies and films, you will explore ways in which cultural production is charting the experience of conflict and displacement and analyse how writers and film-makers challenge the discourses underlining the development of Fortress Europe.

• 91¶¶Òõ Rocks

  This module will explore writings from and about 91¶¶Òõ with an emphasis on their distinctiveness and their relation to socio-cultural and historical contexts. You will investigate lines of continuity and difference in representations of 91¶¶Òõ across the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. You will also explore your own experience of 91¶¶Òõ. Texts might include The Death of Bunny Monroe by Nick Cave, Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan and The Perfect Murder by Peter James.

• Community Placement: Theory in Practice

  This module enables you to develop practical wisdom by actively implementing and testing out the skills and knowledge gained from your degree through a 50-hour professional work placement. You will build employability skills and follow up on areas of particular interest related to your main field of study. Critically reflecting on yourself and your experience, you will gain an insight into future employment positions.

• Apocalypse, Utopia, Dystopia

  In this module you will study major texts of the apocalyptic, utopian and dystopian tradition and consider their generic definitions and distinctions. You will examine ways in which these genres communicate anxieties regarding contemporary political and social issues and engage with contemporary identity politics of gender and sexuality, class, ‘race’ and ethnicity. You’ll also explore the ways in which these texts have been adapted for other forms of media.

• English Language Teaching

  This practice-orientated module will see you apply course and subject knowledge to a real-world professional context. You will implement current best practices in teaching English using a range of methods for presenting and practising new language. You will also develop an understanding of the role English language teaching has in facilitating international communication, education, human rights, employment and collective responses to global challenges.

• Literature and the World Wars

  This module examines how British literary history and cultural memory have been shaped by the two world wars. Through close reading of short stories, novels and poetry, you will critically explore the shock, chaos and variety of wartime experience and its deep effects on personal psychology and identity, sexuality, gender and class relations. Writers discussed might include Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Elizabeth Bowen, TS Eliot, Robert Graves, Rudyard Kipling, DH Lawrence and Virginia Woolf.

• Women's Writing and Feminist Theory

  This module explores and discusses the ways in which literary texts engage with dominant ideas about gender and sexuality and the extent to which feminist ideas have transformed form, content and the political purpose of literary writing globally. It draws on feminist literary, political, anthropological and sociological theories to debate cultural forms in different contexts.

• Adaptations

  In this module you will study literary adaptations, comparing and contrasting narratives and their transformation through the process of adaptation to film and to various audiences. You will analyse the reception of adaptations in media reviews and scholarly critiques and explore and deconstruct the ‘fidelity argument’.

• Citizen Journalism: Theory and Practice

  You will develop your understanding of the ethics, politics and practices of public and citizen journalism during this module. You will engage critically with theory and research, exploring key concepts of accountability, accuracy, trust, misinformation, bias and the responsibility of citizen journalism before working independently to create your own portfolio.

• From Script to Screen

  In this module, you will take an original premise and develop a screen play and storyboard, then direct and edit your work into a six-minute fictional film. A series of lectures and workshops will explore short film structure, characterisation, visual grammar, scene writing and genre, as well as storyboarding, film editing and film production.

• Creative Writing Project

  During this module, delivered via a series of master classes, you will choose a specific style or genre and develop an extended piece of creative writing that fulfils the criteria for published work. Styles can include poetry anthology, a TV, film, radio or stage script, a short story or the beginning of a novel. Working in groups, you will discuss your processes and share your writing and there will be opportunities to submit your work for the student anthology, competitions and open mic nights.

• Environment, Landscape and Nature Writing

  This module considers how landscape is depicted in the literary arts and how these representations can shape nation, culture and identity. Landscape can be overlooked as ‘scenery’ or a literary device forming a ‘setting’, but landscape and our perceptions of it harbour complex ideas about who and where we are. You will explore ideas through walking, sensory engagement, identifying landscape features and understanding what it is it to have a ‘sense of place’.

• Autoethnography

  In this module, you will research autoethnographic work and design a research project that links your personal experiences with a specific cultural/social group and your writing development. Guided by workshops, feedback and tutorials, you will present your autoethnographic project to a seminar group where your ideas will be discussed to help you produce your final assessment piece.

• Gothic Texts and Contexts

  In this module you will critically reflect upon the social relevance of Gothic texts and how they articulate, develop or challenge notions of the ‘Gothic’ from the eighteenth century into the twenty-first century. You will look at texts such as Paradise Lost, Dr Faustus, The Castle of Otranto, The Monk, Frankenstein, Christabel and Carmilla; Gothic works by fine artists such as Turner, Goya, Fuseli and Blake; and Gothic popular culture via films and TV shows like Nosferatu and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

• Victorian Sexualities

  You will build on your experience of the nineteenth century in this module by focusing on the important and controversial discourse of sexuality. You will explore some key representations of sexuality in literature, medical and legal discourse and art and will construct a case study to demonstrate your critical awareness of these issues and the debates surrounding them.

• Writing the Contemporary

  In this module you will look at how contemporary texts – including fiction and non-fiction, novels, poetry, films and drama – reflect, challenge, articulate or attempt to define society's preoccupations. You’ll study innovations in forms, genres and literatures of the contemporary period and investigate the challenges of new technologies and media.

• Postcolonial Literatures

  You will explore the richness and diversity of writing that has emerged from the experience of Western European colonisation during this module. Studying writers from such regions as Africa, Asia and the Americas, you will investigate the range of complex political and cultural debates which inform postcolonial theory and literature. Authors featured might include Bharati Mukherjee, Chimamanda Adichie, Jean Rhys, Tayeb Salih and David Malouf.

• European Literatures and Film

  This module examines how the idea of Europe has changed between 1945 and the present day. The core focus of the module will be on literary and film responses to Europe’s colonial legacy, to post-1945 European history – from the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 1989 ‘revolutions’ – and to more recent events in the post-communist period, such as the expansion of the European Union in the 21st century, the migrant crisis and Brexit.

• Approaches to Analysing Discourse

  This module explores a number of approaches to analysing spoken and written discourse and evaluates them in relation to different discourse genres and theories in a variety of media. You will also explore how language is used in social contexts to reinforce and then contest various power relations. The module focuses on topics relating to global challenges such as immigration, race and racism, neoliberalism, climate change, (in)justice and (in)equality.

• World Englishes

  This module focuses on the global spread of the English language and the historical, political and sociological factors that have contributed to this development. You will examine and evaluate the relationship between English and Indigenous cultures in postcolonial settings and look at the varieties of English in countries where it is spoken as a first, second or foreign language.

• Language, Gender and Sexuality

  You will develop an understanding of language as it relates to gender and sexuality across cultures and other social identities during this module. Various claims made about gender, sexuality and linguistic practices will be addressed, and you will be introduced to theoretical and analytical frameworks for critically evaluating these assertions. You will examine feminist and queer social theories to understand the relationship between language, culture and social identities.

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

Lab facilities

Mithras House has a series of lab rooms which can be used for teaching on your course or in your independent research work.

Life lab
A skills-based lab for practice-based teaching, social work, psychotherapy and counselling, and employability. The Life lab is fitted with lounge furniture to provide a comfortable space for conducting qualitative research with larger groups. The lab can be used to conduct research activities with children of all ages and can be used for meetings and events. The room also contains a dedicated space to conduct assessed role play or interviews with children.

City lab
This is a qualitative research methods and creative methods resource for all students, staff and researchers, as well as research participants, including children, community groups and the general public. It can also be used for meetings and events. The City lab contains a kitchen, a teaching/meeting room with enhanced acoustic isolation and two meeting spaces that can be separated with a screen or combined to accommodate larger groups.

Design lab
Housing our extensive collection of historic dress and textiles, which are used in some teaching on our History of Art and Design courses, this has the space and equipment for you to work on textile projects. Displays created by students on these programmes are on view in the social spaces of the building.

Community Lab
A space designed for collaborative student learning, this is used by students and staff involved in the university’s Global Challenges programme – our collective mission to contribute towards solutions to tackle the pressing issues facing our world.

Stats lab
A specialist workspace with computing equipment for statistical analysis and projects involving video and audio editing software. The lab contains eight acoustically treated booths for both recording and transcribing interviews undertaken as part of dissertation research and for recording and editing podcasts.

Applied Cognition lab
A dedicated research space for psychological research involving measures such as electrodermal activity (EDA) and electroencephalography (EEG). The space is designed to allow the participant and researcher to sit at separate desks whilst psychophysiological data is being collected. 

VR and eye tracking lab
The VR and Eye-Tracking Lab is used for psychological research using equipment, such as eye-trackers and virtual reality headsets. The space has adjustable lighting and a blackout blind for maintaining consistent lighting conditions during eye-tracking research, as well as sensors set up in the room to allow individuals to move freely around the room during virtual reality research.

Meet the team

Course fees

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• 91¶¶Òõ Boost – cost of living help for our new undergrad students. Find out about how we can help with your study, accommodation or travel costs and more...
• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• Read our student contract and (pdf) for more on 91¶¶Òõ tuition fees.

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