Program Overview

If you’re an aspiring writer and literature enthusiast, our English Literature and Creative Writing degree has the ideal combination of topics for you.

Why choose this course

• Engage in intellectually challenging teaching in creative writing and English literature, with acclaimed writers and scholars as well as enthusiastic and experienced teachers who convey ideas and explain techniques and methodologies enthusiastically and accessibly  
• Studying a BA English Literature and Creative Writing degree at Surrey, you will become part of a community of literary and cultural scholars, writers, and creative practitioners, and will be able to explore the opportunities and challenges of studying, practising, and producing critical and creative forms of expression.
• We have a firm eye on your future employability. If you choose to take one of our award-winning Professional Training placements, you’ll be able to enhance your readiness for employment.
• If you study creative writing and English degree at Surrey, you’ll gain professional and transferable skills in communications, writing, and critical thinking. You’ll learn how to write at a professional level in a variety of modes: analytical commentary and interpretive analysis, literary criticism, prose fiction, poetry, and writing for stage, screen, gaming and beyond. These skills are paramount in a wide range of professional environments and career paths, such as writing, editing, copywriting, teaching, publishing, marketing, journalism, social media and communications roles.  

What you will study

On our English and Creative Writing degree, you'll study vital and influential works of literature, you'll read and discuss contemporary writing as well as classics in a wide range of genres.

You'll explore canonical as well as more experimental forms, texts, and authors alongside perspectives, world views, and creative practices that have been historically silenced, marginalised, or endangered. Throughout the programme, you’ll develop sensitivity and appreciation for a diverse range of cultures and forms of artistic expressions, as well as emotional and cultural intelligence when discussing them with your peers and tutors.  

The programme includes innovative modules Science-Fiction and Renaissance Lives, plus a new creative writing poetry module and identities module, alongside our excellent existing creative writing and period-based literary modules in Medieval, Early Modern, 19th century, Modernist and Contemporary Studies.

You’ll develop a wide range of creative writing skills and knowledge, looking at forms such as novels, short stories, poetry, plays, screenplays, graphic novels and writing for games.

You will study classic works like those of Shakespeare and George Eliot, as well as writing by contemporary authors including Kazuo Ishiguro, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Jhumpa Lahiri.  

Genres you'll study include travel writing, 19th-century theatre and fiction, science-fiction, contemporary global literatures, medieval literature, romantic literature, early modern, modernist and contemporary literatures.  

Our creative writing modules will develop your understanding of the techniques used and challenges faced by the writers you study on your English literature modules. You’ll assess the potential and challenges of forms of artistic expression that are increasingly central in contemporary culture and society, such as digital storytelling, video-gaming, blogging and podcasting. Your studies will also help you find inspiration and root your own creative work in the authors and literary traditions you’ll be exploring.  

English literature and creative writing placements
Unusually for a course like this, we also offer the opportunity for you to do a Professional Training placement. You can gain experience in degree-related professions such as publishing, marketing, the media industries, teaching or arts administration.

Surrey was the first English course to introduce a Professional Training component, in 2008, and our experience as a leader in professional training will help you make the most of the year.

Some examples of organisations that participate in the scheme include:

• Brighton and Hove Independent Picture Production Company
• British Council
• Grand Connaught Rooms
• NBC Universal
• Toyota (PR and Press Communications)
• Winning Moves (a leading UK board game company).

A Professional Training placement will give you the opportunity to develop valuable transferable skills in analysis, reflection, communication and organisation.