On this course, you'll develop your creative and critical writing and discover the links between literature and visual culture, science, and politics. You'll be guided by our award-winning novelists, journalists and playwrights.
This creative writing degree allows you to choose from creative writing and English options each year, building your knowledge of a range of genres and traditions. You'll be encouraged to make connections between your critical and creative practice throughout the course.
We will also support your professional practice with:
You'll have the opportunity to study abroad, spending a semester, a summer or even a full year at one of our global partner universities.
As part of this course you can:
English at Southampton is a top 10 English department in the UK (Times Good University Guide, 2025).
We're also ranked:
We regularly review our courses to ensure and improve quality. This course may be revised as a result of this. Any revision will be balanced against the requirement that the student should receive the educational service expected. Find out why, when, and how we might make changes.
Our courses are regulated in England by the Office for Students (OfS).
This course is based at Avenue.
This qualification is awarded by the University of Southampton.
The Course Description Document details your course overview, your course structure and how your course is taught and assessed.
AAB including an essay writing subject
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. Essay writing subjects include: History, English Language and Literature, English Language, English Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography, Sociology, Latin or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects.
If you are taking an EPQ in addition to 3 A levels, you will receive the following offer in addition to the standard A level offer: ABB including an essay writing subject and grade A in the EPQ.
We are committed to ensuring that all applicants with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise an applicant's potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Pass, with 34 points overall with 17 points at Higher Level, including 5 at Higher Level in English Literature or another relevant essay writing subject.
Essay writing subjects include: History, English Language and Literature, English Language, English Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography, Sociology, Latin or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects.
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Offers will be made on the individual Diploma Course subject(s) and the career-related study qualification. The CP core will not form part of the offer. Where there is a subject pre-requisite(s), applicants will be required to study the subject(s) at Higher Level in the Diploma course subject and/or take a specified unit in the career-related study qualification. Applicants may also be asked to achieve a specific grade in those elements. Please see the University of Southampton International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme (IBCP) Statement for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Diploma plus A in an A level essay writing subject or Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Diploma plus A in an A level essay writing subject or Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Certificate plus A in an A level essay writing subject and A in one further A level
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. Essay writing subjects include: History, English Language and Literature, English Language, English Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography, Sociology, Latin or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects.
Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC Extended Diploma plus A in an A level essay writing subject or Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC Diploma plus A in an A level essay writing subject or Distinction in the BTEC Subsidiary Diploma plus A in an A level essay writing subject and A in one further A level
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
60 credits with a minimum of 45 credits at Level 3, of which 39 must be at Distinction and 6 credits at Merit, to include 6 Distinctions in an essay writing subject.
Essay writing subjects include: History, English Language and Literature, English Language, English Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography, Sociology, Latin or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects.
H1 H2 H2 H2 H2 H2 -including as essay writing subject
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. Essay writing subjects include: History, English Language and Literature, English Language, English Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography, Sociology, Latin or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects.
Offers will be based on exams being taken at the end of S6. Subjects taken and qualifications achieved in S5 will be reviewed. Careful consideration will be given to an individual’s academic achievement, taking in to account the context and circumstances of their pre-university education.
Please see the University of Southampton’s Curriculum for Excellence Scotland Statement (PDF) for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
D3 D3 M2 in three principal subjects including an essay writing subject*
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. Essay writing subjects include: History, English Language and Literature, English Language, English Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography, Sociology, Latin or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects.
AAB from 3 A levels including an essay writing subject or AA from two A levels including an essay writing subject and B from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Skills Challenge Certificate
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. Essay writing subjects include: History, English Language and Literature, English Language, English Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography, Sociology, Latin or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects.
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Not accepted for this course.
Applicants must hold GCSE English language (or GCSE English) (minimum grade 4/C) and mathematics (minimum grade 4/C)
Find the equivalent international qualifications for our entry requirements.
If English isn't your first language, you'll need to complete an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to demonstrate your competence in English. You'll need all of the following scores as a minimum:
We accept other English language tests. Find out which English language tests we accept.
If you don’t meet the English language requirements, you can achieve the level you need by completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.
You might meet our criteria in other ways if you do not have the qualifications we need. Find out more about:
Find out more about our Admissions Policy.
ABB
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking.
If you are taking an EPQ in addition to 3 A levels, you will receive the following offer in addition to the standard A level offer: BBB and grade A in the EPQ.
We are committed to ensuring that all applicants with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise an applicant's potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Pass, with 32 points overall with 16 points at Higher Level
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Offers will be made on the individual Diploma Course subject(s) and the career-related study qualification. The CP core will not form part of the offer. Where there is a subject pre-requisite(s), applicants will be required to study the subject(s) at Higher Level in the Diploma course subject and/or take a specified unit in the career-related study qualification. Applicants may also be asked to achieve a specific grade in those elements. Please see the University of Southampton International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme (IBCP) Statement for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Diploma plus B in an A level, or Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Diploma plus B in an A level, or Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Certificate plus AB from 2 A levels.
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking.
Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC Extended Diploma plus B in an A level, or Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC Diploma plus B in an A level, or Distinction in the BTEC Subsidiary Diploma plus AB from 2 A levels.
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
60 credits with a minimum of 45 credits at Level 3, of which 30 must be at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit.
H1 H2 H2 H2 H3 H3
Offers will be based on exams being taken at the end of S6. Subjects taken and qualifications achieved in S5 will be reviewed. Careful consideration will be given to an individual’s academic achievement, taking in to account the context and circumstances of their pre-university education.
Please see the University of Southampton’s Curriculum for Excellence Scotland Statement (PDF) for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
D3 M2 M2 in three principal subjects
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. Essay writing subjects include: History, English Language and Literature, English Language, English Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classical Civilisation, Politics, Geography, Sociology, Latin or any other humanities-based essay writing subjects.
ABB from 3 A levels or AB from two A levels B from the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales.
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking.
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Not accepted for this course.
Applicants must hold GCSE English language (or GCSE English) (minimum grade 4/C) and mathematics (minimum grade 4/C)
Find the equivalent international qualifications for our entry requirements.
If English isn't your first language, you'll need to complete an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to demonstrate your competence in English. You'll need all of the following scores as a minimum:
We accept other English language tests. Find out which English language tests we accept.
If you don’t meet the English language requirements, you can achieve the level you need by completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.
You might meet our criteria in other ways if you do not have the qualifications we need. Find out more about:
Find out more about our Admissions Policy.
Please contact our enquiries team if you're not sure that you have the right experience or qualifications to get onto this course.
Email: enquiries@southampton.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)23 8059 5000
This english with creative writing course takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying poetry, prose, and drama. Creative writing modules will develop your understanding of short stories, novels, poetry, scriptwriting and narrative non-fiction.
You can complement your degree with modules in other subject areas, including modern languages, music, and philosophy.
Your personal academic tutor can help you plan your course.
Your first year will introduce you to new forms of literature and new creative and critical methods.
You'll take 3 core modules that give you a foundation in critical thinking, essay writing and group research. They will help you develop your own perspectives on the subject. You'll also take an introductory module on creative writing, which will explore story structure.
You can choose more modules on topics including:
You'll explore creative genres and forms in more depth. Typically, you'll take core modules in 4 areas of creative writing:
You'll learn more about literature from other periods, choosing from core modules in Renaissance culture, romanticism, and modernism. You can also choose additional options across English, film studies, philosophy and beyond, including:
In your final year, you'll develop your creative writing in prose, poetry, and narrative non-fiction. You'll write a dissertation on a research topic of your choice, or complete a creative project.
You'll choose core creative writing modules covering:
You'll also be able to choose modules from a wide range of literary topics, including:
Want more detail? See all the modules in the course.
The modules outlined provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. As a research-led University, we undertake a continuous review of our course to ensure quality enhancement and to manage our resources. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand. Find out why, when and how we might make changes.
You must study the following modules in year 1:
“A stranger comes to town” is often called one of the only stories of great literature, and in this introductory module we explore ideas of strangers and strangeness in creative writing and creative writers. How do creative writers make language strange?...
Why have some stories gripped the imagination of writers, musicians, and artists across cultures and centuries? And what does the emergence and constant re-emergence of such stories tell us about ourselves and others, past and present? What do readers and...
How do we read poems, and what language can we use to describe our readings? This module will provide a detailed introduction to the particular qualities your ear, eye and brain will need to read poetry more effectively. You will study key features of poe...
This module focuses on the essay as a critical practice and a literary form. The essay is fundamental to literary criticism, and basic to assessment across your degree. But the essay is also a literary and popular-cultural genre in its own right: one that...
‘A novel does not assert anything; a novel searches and poses questions’. The contemporary novelist Milan Kundera describes the novel as an exploratory and engaging form, a way of telling stories that involves readers both in its searches and in the quest...
You must also choose from the following modules in year 1:
English has always been on the move. As a literary language, it has not only travelled from and back to England; lines of influence between texts, authors, publishers, editors, book technologies, and readers traverse the globe in multiple directions, bet...
Where did the idea of ‘English Literature’ as we know it today come from? When and how did writers first start thinking of themselves as English authors? How did the mechanisms of book production and the material forms of books shape readers’ understandin...
The module asks big questions. What do we do when we interpret literature and culture, and how can we analyse our practices of interpretation? Can anything be a text, and if so what do we understand by ‘literature’? How does literature shape our identity,...
In this module, you will learn how to approach dramatic texts in a way that takes into consideration their place in the world as a complex political, economic, and cultural network. We will focus on questions such as: • What is the difference between r...
You must study the following modules in year 2:
Many writers begin with the short story. Through writing short stories they are able to experiment, learn the fundamentals of narrative composition, and have the satisfaction of completing something to a high standard in a relatively short period of time....
This module will prepare you for study abroad and also take you through the application process for study abroad. Before you travel, you are required to take out appropriate insurance policies and engage in on-going monitoring of risk and this module will...
This non-credit bearing module is a required element for all Humanities students on a Year Abroad Programme. It builds on the Year Abroad preparation module, HUMA2012. It is taken as a long thin single module whilst on the Year Abroad with a two hour prep...
The Year in Employment (YiE) is an opportunity for undergraduate students across a range of programmes to undertake a placement year whilst remaining enrolled to the University of Southampton. Students complete their placement after their second year of s...
You must also choose from the following modules in year 2:
In Africa, the ideal of freedom has the capacity to evoke multiple layers of struggle and aspiration: from state decolonisation and the end of official racial segregation, to gendered, national, economic and spiritual freedoms. Historically, the novel has...
Children's literature is a rather slippery term encompassing a variety of genres, child/adult concerns, engagement with historical/contextual issues on, for example, gender; class; nonsense; the nature of time; slavery. Other issues addressed are subject...
In this module, we introduce corpus linguistics as an approach to and method for analysing large-scale text data. We will develop an understanding of building and curating datasets, annotating data, and using quantitative and statistical measures for lang...
Literary history is often told in epochs. In particular, it can be useful to understand the world in relation to some or other idea of “modernity”: for example, English literary studies is often organised through conceptions of the early modern, the mode...
What does it mean to make literature new? What forms and reformations have offered starting points for rethinking literary convention? In this module, you will explore the revolutions, innovations, and boundary-crossings that have taken place in literatur...
This module will introduce you to some of the principal realist and documentary movements, asking how the simple aim to ‘show things as they really are’ has resulted in a range of creative and wildly different cinematic forms. It will consider the issue a...
Many writers have penned essays about fiction and memoir: E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Italo Calvino, Vladimir Nabokov, Milan Kundera, A.L. Kennedy, A.S. Byatt, to name just a famous few. Indeed, it seems essential at some p...
Cultural representations of women shed important light on notions of female subjectivity, sexuality and racial identity in the modern world. Medical discourses on gender, mental pathology and the rise of modern feminism are just some of the pivotal histor...
Early modern England is a period associated with Elizabeth I and the Tudor court, the plays of Shakespeare, blood and violence on the Jacobean stage, the discovery of new worlds, and the persecution of witches and heretics. The diversity and vitality of t...
In this module, we will investigate and reflect on the various entanglements between Queerness and digital technologies. Drawing from foundational concepts in Queer theory and gender studies scholarship, this module deconstructs and reconceptualises domin...
Revolutions would break, remake, and reform societies on both sides of the Atlantic from the disruptions of the English Civil War to the global conflicts of the Napoleonic Empire. Revolutions may be those sudden changes in political life that men have tra...
In 1831 the philosopher John Stuart Mill struggled to define the ‘Spirit’ of the nineteenth century. ‘It is’, he wrote, ‘an age of transition. Mankind have outgrown old institutions and old doctrines, and have not yet acquired new ones.’ If the nineteenth...
Dialogue, pace, setting, and story. Understanding the nuts of bolts of scriptwriting is not only key to a successful piece of theatre, cinema, or radio, but to all forms of creative writing or literary analysis. This course will introduce you to the art o...
How did people in early medieval England think, feel, and write about the world they inhabited? In what sorts of ways did literature and other forms of texts shape their engagements with landscapes, environments, and the beings – real and imagined – with ...
How do writers activate and amplify the sonic properties of language? Why do artists use vocal performance of text in video art? How can text ‘perform’ on the page (or onscreen), and what does it mean for language to be performative? What does writing for...
What can the voices and narratives of sex workers and asylum seekers depicted in world literature and visual culture tell us about the conditions and pressures of life in the contemporary world? How might considerations of narrative technique, genre, and ...
In this module, students will explore a wealth of different texts and different discourses, from the literary to the scientific, on humanity and the human body in the early modern period. Starting with a glimpse of ancient and modern visions of the body, ...
Since 1800, new modes of transport and communication, commerce and violence, have remade the world. As empires expanded and contracted, and as the relationships between states and individuals were repeatedly reconfigured and tested, ways of conceptualisin...
You must study the following module in year 3:
You must also choose from the following modules in year 3:
As the Puritan colonialist John Winthrop said at Holyrood Church in Southampton before embarking for Boston, American was to be ‘as a city upon a hill’, a beacon of progress and enlightenment for the world. But from the beginning, America has been shadowe...
What can animals teach us about the human and non-human? What do the creative forms we use to describe them show us about human form and the other? In this module, you will read a range of poetic and critical material which explores the porous boundaries ...
Jane Austen’s global appeal in the twenty-first century has been shaped by the ways that she has been read in the 200 years since her death. In this module, you will read Austen's novels, letters, and unpublished juvenile fiction, and explore some of the ...
Are you interested in helping young people study English? This module will introduce you to teaching creative writing in secondary schools by providing training in effective classroom management and guidance on designing lesson plans for studying fiction ...
Fantasy film and fiction spans a wide range of texts, from Gothic 'classics' and feminist fairy tales, to Utopian literature and musicals. Analysing fantasy texts alongside psychoanalytic and cultural theories will enable you to engage with questions conc...
How has the Holocaust been represented? We will examine a range of responses to the Holocaust from the 1940s to the present day, including memoirs of camp survivors and experimental texts. Focusing on the limits of representation we will approach question...
Has Shakespeare aged well? From the boys in wigs on the Elizabethan stage to the digital wizardry of the twenty-first century, the technology as well as the ideology that informs Shakespearean performance keeps evolving—sometimes in unexpected ways. This ...
How did people in early medieval England think, feel, and write about the world they inhabited? In what sorts of ways did literature and other forms of texts shape their engagements with landscapes, environments, and the beings – real and imagined – with ...
Narrative non-fiction is one of the most exciting areas of contemporary writing. After many years of being seen as having lower artistic status than fiction, a hugely diverse range of memoir, autofiction, essay collections, and historical writing has draw...
Are we living in an age of climate change or climate crisis? In her 2019 speech to the World Economic Forum, Greta Thunberg famously declared “Our house is on fire”: a statement underscored by the Australian bushfire crisis of 2020 and the mass devastatio...
From Plato’s Republic and Thomas More’s Utopia to Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale and Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, utopias have always been haunted by the spectre of the dystopian. If utopias imagine alternative ways of organizing society, dy...
Once upon a time, no one called themselves queer; now it names everything from a kind of person to a type of weather. Queerness seems necessary, ubiquitous, paradoxical – but why? Ranging from the eighteenth century to the present day, this module will ex...
The essential elements of writing a novel include crafting beginnings and endings, constructing characters, manipulating structure and plot, and developing an intimate relationship with language. Writing exercises and discussions of work in progress will ...
The learning activities for this course include the following:
You’ll be supported by a personal academic tutor and have access to a senior tutor.
Carole Burns is the course leader.
This degree will allow you to develop and evidence subject-specific and targeted employability skills. This includes the required skill set for a range of future careers, further study, or starting your own business.
The skills you can expect to focus on and gain from this course include:
The employability and enterprise skills you'll gain from this course are reflected in the Southampton skills model. When you join us you'll be able to use our skills model to track, plan, and benefit your career development and progress.
Download skills overview
Graduates commonly work in a range of organisations or sectors including:
Book sellers and publishers,
Local Council Libraries,
universities,
Education Providers,
media groups,
magazine and newspapers,
local and national government.
*Example graduate job titles and job prospect statistics taken from The Graduate Outcomes Survey, which gathers information about the activities and perspectives of graduates 15 months after finishing their course.
Choosing to do work experience is a great way to enhance your employability, build valuable networks, and evidence your potential. Learn about the different work and industry experience options at Southampton.
We are a top 20 UK university for employability (QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022). Our Careers, Employability and Student Enterprise team will support you. This support includes:
We have a vibrant entrepreneurship culture and our dedicated start-up supporter, Futureworlds, is open to every student.
Your career ideas and graduate job opportunities may change while you're at university. So it is important to take time to regularly reflect on your goals, speak to people in industry and seek advice and up-to-date information from Careers, Employability and Student Enterprise professionals at the University.
Fees for a year's study:
Your tuition fees pay for the full cost of tuition and standard exams.
Find out how to:
Accommodation and living costs, such as travel and food, are not included in your tuition fees. There may also be extra costs for retake and professional exams.
Explore:
If you're a UK or EU student and your household income is under £25,000 a year, you may be able to get a University of Southampton bursary to help with your living costs. Find out about bursaries and other funding we offer at Southampton.
If you're a care leaver or estranged from your parents, you may be able to get a specific bursary.
Get in touch for advice about student money matters.
You may be able to get a scholarship or grant to help fund your studies.
We award scholarships and grants for travel, academic excellence, or to students from under-represented backgrounds.
The Student Hub offers support and advice on money to students. You may be able to access our Student Support fund and other sources of financial support during your course.
Find out about funding you could get as an international student.
We will assess your application on the strength of your:
We'll aim to process your application within 2 to 6 weeks, but this will depend on when it is submitted. Applications submitted in January, particularly near to the UCAS equal consideration deadline, might take substantially longer to be processed due to the high volume received at that time.
We treat and select everyone in line with our Equality and Diversity Statement.
Please contact our enquiries team if you're not sure that you have the right experience or qualifications to get onto this course.
Email: enquiries@southampton.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)23 8059 5000
English with Creative Writing (BA) is a course in the English subject area. Here are some other courses within this subject area:
