English and Creative Writing
This single honours scheme is taught by distinguished practising writers, and aims to develop both your creative and critical writing skills. It will help you to expand your range and capabilities as a writer, and enable you to work confidently in a variety of forms and genres. It will also help you to develop a reflective writing practice informed by knowledge of past and present writing: and understanding of the literary, cultural and socio-historical contexts in which literature is written and read; and an awareness of the range and variety of approaches to literary study and to the practice of writing.
Year 1
In your first year you will take three core modules: Ways with Words, Encountering Texts, and Ancestral Voices. Ways with Words is designed to introduce you to different kinds of writing practice through an integrated programme of workshops and plenary lectures. You will gain experience of the genres of poetry, prose fiction and life-writing and the kinds of research with which creative writers need to engage. Encountering Texts focuses on a range of different approaches to reading and writing about literary texts of different periods. Ancestral Voices explores the genres of poetry, drama and prose through a detailed study of texts from the period before 1800.
You will also be given the chance to take three option modules, including Transpositions, which based upon a series of writing tasks which involve 'transposing' a pre-existing piece of material in some way, for example, either from one medium to another, or from one genre to another - and Contemporary Writing, which introduces you to a range of recent poetry, drama and fiction.
Ways with Words and Transpositions are taught in workshop classes and are assessed by means of short task-based assignments. Ancestral Voices, Encountering Texts and Contemporary Writing are taught by lectures and weekly seminars and are assessed by a combination of coursework, and an end-of-module examination paper.
Years 2 & 3
All English and Creative Writing students take a common core, to which they add writing options. The core consists of: Writing Fiction and Poetry, Reading Theory /Reading Texts 1, and the final year Writing Project, which will give you an opportunity to engage with an extended piece of your own writing in any form including a longer piece of fiction, a collection of poems or short stories, or a dramatic text. In addition you will take three core modules organised on a historical basis: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Writing, Twentieth-Century British Literature and either Medieval and Renaissance Writing or Nineteenth-Century Writing, You may select your options from among the following list: Writing Short Fictions; Traditional Poetic Forms; Writing Selves, Writing and Place; Experimental Writing; Writing Contemporary Wales; Writing Lives: Autobiography. The emphasis of these modules will be on your own writing. You will present your own work regularly for feedback and suggestion.
Assessment
Reading Theory/Reading Texts 1 and the core period modules are assessed by a combination of coursework and an end-of-module examination. All the other modules are continuously assessed. The final year Writing Project is assessed by means of a portfolio of writing accompanied by a commentary.
Career Opportunities
A degree in English and Creative Writing will hone your critical and creative abilities and develop excellent communication skills (both written and oral). As a creative writer, you will be encouraged to develop an imaginative engagement with and response to the world that will equip you for a wide range of careers ranging from broadcasting, journalism and publishing to teaching, the civil service, business and finance.
The Department is pleased to announce the Luigi Bonomi Associates prize for fiction. The prize will be awarded to the student from the Department who is considered most likely to produce a publishable work, based on their entry. As well as the cash prize, the winner will meet and lunch with Luigi Bonomi of the prestigious London literary agency.
Louise Jenkins
BA English Literature and Creative Writing
OxfordshireI chose to study at Aberystwyth because of the course and its location by the sea. It was very, easy to settle into studying. I’ve lived in town for the whole three years and you just feel like you’re part of a community straight away, everyone’s so friendly, and it’s crazy on Saturday! The department’s pretty good. The tutors are good and if you have any questions they have office hours you can go visit them in.
The Arts Centre is really good, they show more arty films as well as the more recent ones. And they have special themed weeks, for example every two weeks they show horror films. At Aberystwyth it is laid back and comfortable and there’s no pressure. The social life is really good. I think it has 52 pubs, which is crazy. I haven’t been to all of them! There are two clubs in town which are good, and everyone tends to go to the same place, so you make friends just by going out.
I would definitely recommend Aberystwyth to others, especially if you’re from the city and you want something completely different. It’s the place to come. You do feel far away from home, but that’s a good thing!