Course summary

By combining the study of American Literature and Creative Writing, you'll become an informed and critical reader of the American literary tradition, as well as a confident and expressive writer - whether specialising as a poet, playwright, or author of fiction. Studying at one of the UK's most dynamic English departments will challenge you to develop your own critical faculties. Learning to write creatively and critically analyse in tandem, you'll be exposed to a huge variety of literature while you develop your own writing practice. You'll also examine a variety of areas in American literature, including the literature of the first encounter, nineteenth-century and African-American writing, satire, New York School poetry, drama, the urban novel and writing about music and the novella. You will have the chance to take courses in other departments, studying American history or film, to broaden your understanding of America. Learn how to create, criticise and shape an artistic work: a valuable life skill with uses beyond writing poetry, plays or novels. From journalism and website creation to advertising and academic publishing – you'll be able to use the skills you pick up in character, voice, ambiguity, style and cultural context. You will be taught by internationally known scholars, authors, playwrights and poets who are specialists in their fields, producing ground-breaking written work and appearing at literary festivals around the world, including practising American novelists Ben Markovits and Douglas Cowie.

• Critique texts considering literary devices such as form, genre and periodisation.

• A range of literature modules from poetry to novels.

• You can specialise as a poet, playwright or author of fiction.

• Be taught by world-renowned American authors.

• The chance to spend a year at a university in the USA.