Why Lancaster? Develop your creative voice while also studying literature from classical civilisation to the present day Enhance your writing through both text-based writing experiments and workshops focusing on your own writing Explore the professional dimensions of Creative Writing, such as performing your work, editing, publishing, and marketing Get involved with our four student-run literary journals: Cake, Lux, Flash, and Errant and our partners, the city-based LitFest Be inspired by our rich programme of literary events on campus, online, and in the city’s historic Castle Quarter Enjoy the benefits of our partnership with the archive-rich Wordsworth Museum, including internship opportunities Lancaster was one of the very first universities to teach Creative Writing. Today we continue to lead the way in the discipline with celebrated authors as tutors and students who go on to publish their work both while with us and after. Acts of reading The study of English Literature here is founded on the conviction that reading is not passive but active it is something that acts upon both the texts that we read and the world in which we live. Neither those texts nor the world are left the same as they were before. This means that as well as nurturing all kinds of established forms of literary scholarship, such as archival work, historicism, close reading, and literary theory, we are pioneers in experimental or creative forms of literary criticism. Studying with us means not only a deep and close engagement with literature itself but an appreciation of how literature explores many other worlds – politics, ecology, philosophy, psychology, theology, film, and fashion, etc. To support this, in your first year, if you wish, you can study one subject outside of English Literature and Creative Writing, choosing from a wide range of modules. And you can, if you wish, continue to take modules from other subject areas in your second and final years. From the sonnet to game writing You’ll pick from a wide range of modules, with your time divided equally between English Literature and Creative Writing. Within English Literature you will be able to explore texts from ancient civilisations to the present day. Within Creative Writing you’ll be able to explore traditional forms such as the short story, the novel, poetry, or scriptwriting, as well as non-traditional forms such as digital media, game writing, screenwriting, fantasy, and writing for young adults. Support, events, and study trips Your lectures will be supplemented by regular seminars and workshops, and we encourage you to meet one-to-one with your tutor to discuss your work. You will also have an academic advisor who will provide one-to-one advice. The Department offers a rich programme of free literary evening events in Lancaster’s historic Castle Quarter, including our summer student seminars which usually take place in the Castle itself. The Castle is also usually the setting for our student-led summer Shakespeare production, whilst the Department’s flagship social events, the October Lecture and the May Gathering, are usually held at Lancaster’s ancient Priory. Our partnership with LitFest, Lancaster’s city-centre year-round literary festival, provides many opportunities for our students, and our partnership with the archive-rich Wordsworth Museum at Grasmere includes residential internships, an annual study retreat day, and free entry at any time of the year. Finally, you may be able to go on one of Lancaster University's short-study trips - popular destinations previously have included New York and Boston. Or you might be interested in studying English Literature and Creative Writing with a Study Abroad Year.