Teaching

Teaching is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, writing workshops, screenings, tutorials, guided study, guest speaker events and independent learning. Lectures introduce key contexts, concepts and approaches, while seminars and workshops allow you to discuss texts, test ideas, share creative work and develop your writing through feedback.

Creative writing workshops are central to the course. You will learn how to draft, revise and edit your work, respond constructively to the writing of others, and reflect critically on your own creative practice. You will also develop the confidence to present and perform creative work in different forms and genres.

Our teaching is research-inspired and practice-led. You will learn from staff whose work spans creative writing, contemporary literature, Romantic and Victorian literature, American literature, memoir, poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and writing for voice and performance.

In your final year, you will complete either an English dissertation or a Creative Writing dissertation, supported by one-to-one supervision from an academic specialist in your chosen area.

Assessment

Assessment is varied and designed to help you develop as both a literary critic and creative practitioner.

You may be assessed through:

• Essays and close reading exercises
• Creative portfolios
• Critical and reflective commentaries
• Reviews and journals
• Oral presentations
• Group projects
• Peer review activities
• Field assignments
• Performances
• Online tests and quizzes
• Dissertation work

Creative writing assessments will help you demonstrate your ability to write across forms and genres, evaluate your own creative decisions, respond to feedback and understand the relationship between creative practice and critical reflection.

Several work-related learning modules use professional-style assessments. In Advanced Creative Writing Skills, you will work on simulated publication and performance briefs. In Arts Journalism, you will build a portfolio informed by arts practice and professional journalism. In Global Voices and the Publishing Industry, you will reflect on work with a literary organisation, while Your Career and Other Stories includes career-focused blogging, reporting and self-evaluation.

Independent learning

Independent learning is central to your development as a writer and critic. Outside timetabled sessions, you will read primary texts and criticism, write and redraft creative work, prepare for seminars and workshops, undertake research, complete reflective commentaries and develop individual or collaborative projects.

You will be encouraged to make use of the David Wilson Library, online academic resources and Special Collections, as well as the wider literary and cultural life of Leicester.

Academic support

You will receive support from your personal tutor throughout your studies, with regular opportunities to discuss your academic progress, personal development and future plans.

You can also access the Centre for Academic Achievement, which offers support with study skills, academic writing, presentations, dissertations, numerical data skills and referencing. The AccessAbility Centre provides practical help and advice for students with disabilities, specific learning differences, mental health conditions, mobility difficulties, deafness or visual impairment.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by academics and practising writers whose expertise are closely connected to the content of the course. Creative writing staff include novelists, poets, editors, critics and creative practitioners with experience across fiction, creative non-fiction, memoir, poetry, writing for voice, screen and performance..

Dr Jonathan Taylor, Associate Professor of Creative Writing, is an author, lecturer, editor and critic whose specialisms include fiction, creative non-fiction, memoir, poetry, writing for voice, music and literature, laughter and literature, and nineteenth-century literature.

Dr Harry Whitehead, Associate Professor of Creative Writing, is a novelist and director of the Centre for New Writing and Literary Leicester. His background includes creative writing theory, historical fiction, film and TV production, and writing connected to environmental crisis.

Dr Felicity James teaches Romantic and Victorian literature and creative writing, with research interests in life-writing, the personal essay, creative collaboration, friendship and women writers.

You will also benefit from the wider research culture of English at University of Leicester, including public lectures, seminars, conferences, literary events and opportunities to engage with visiting writers and scholars.