Literature and Creative Writing

Literature and creative writing share a deep connection: writers are shaped by everything they have read, and close attention to how other writers work is one of the most productive ways of developing your own craft. A degree that combines both disciplines treats reading and writing not as separate activities but as two aspects of a single creative and critical practice, each enriching the other. You learn to read like a writer, attentive to technique and structure, and to write with the self-awareness of someone who has studied how the best authors achieve their effects.

At the University of Essex, this three-year full-time BA takes a distinctive approach to this combination, moving beyond familiar British and American literary traditions to engage with a wider range of influences. You will encounter the study of myth and oral tradition, and you will explore innovative experimental practices including those associated with the Oulipo movement in France, which uses formal constraints as a creative tool. This breadth of reference is itself part of the point: understanding that literature is a global and varied practice, shaped by many different traditions and conventions, gives you a richer set of possibilities as a writer and a more searching capacity as a reader.

You will develop your own creative voice alongside your critical understanding, with writing workshops providing a space for your work to be read and discussed. With a typical entry tariff of 120 UCAS points, the programme welcomes students with genuine literary curiosity.

Graduates from literature and creative writing programmes go on to careers in publishing, journalism, copywriting, arts administration, teaching, marketing and communications, and the wider creative industries. Many graduates continue to develop as writers alongside other work. The research, critical thinking, and communication skills developed during the degree are also valued in a wide range of other professional contexts.

Postgraduate options include creative writing, literature, publishing, and journalism programmes.