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BA (Hons) English Literature (Creative Writing)
- Course Type: Undergraduate Degree
- Institution Code: P56
What can this course lead to?
Graduates from our course go on to secure local teaching placements or pursue a variety of postgraduate degrees, including on the new MA Creative Writing, which will be available at UCP (subject to validation) from September 2026.
This degree opens the door to a wide range of future careers, including:
- Teaching
- Content creation and copywriting
- Publishing, editing, and proofing
- Librarianship
- Creative and professional writing, including writing for the games industry
- Journalism
Who is it for?
Are you creative with words? If you want to develop and hone your craft as a writer, our BA (Hons) English Literature with Creative Writing degree is the course for you. Taught by published authors, academics, and practising creative professionals, this degree blends practical assessment with critical thinking to help you turn your passion into a profession.
Your Journey as a Writer: Our curriculum builds your skills progressively, with a consistent focus on employability:
Year One: Master the Fundamentals: You’ll be introduced to the craft of writing, covering stylistics, genre, narrative, characterisation, creative non-fiction, and critical writing.
Year Two: Hone Your Craft: Develop your writing across different genres and gain the skills needed to succeed as a creative practitioner in the industry.
Year Three: Prepare for Postgraduate Employment: Apply your knowledge with career-focused modules such as Publishing in Practice and Working in English, Film and Media. You’ll also contribute to a published writing anthology, with past successes including Peterborough: True Voices and The Written Woman.
Why Study in Peterborough?
Peterborough has a vibrant literary culture, with a Poet Laureate, an established literary festival, and a thriving spoken word scene—making it an inspiring place to study creative writing. Our annual Literary Festival welcomes established authors and poets, free for students and the public.
At University Centre Peterborough, you’ll study in smaller class sizes compared to other universities, with typical groups of under 20 students.
Read The Open University regulations
Malcolm Bradbury Grant
Through our partnership with the Malcolm Bradbury Trust, students can apply for the Malcolm Bradbury Scholarship Bursary worth £7,500. Learn more.
What is covered?
YEAR 1 - Level 4
- Writing Matters: Academic and Professional Skills (15 credits)
- Introduction to Creative Writing 1: Writing Prose (15 credits)
- Dead Heroes Society: Tragedy (15 credits)
- Contexts and Canons: Murakami to Blake (15 credits)
- Approaching Criticism (15 credits)
- Contexts and Canons: Equiano to Chaucer (15 credits)
- Introduction to Creative Writing 2: Writing Poetry (15 credits)
- 20th Century Practitioners (15 credits)
YEAR 2 - Level 5
- Shortcuts: Writing Short Fiction (15 credits)
- Writing WW1: Memory and Forgetting (15 credits)
- The Image: Exploring Visual Literacy in Media, Culture and Literature (15 credits)
- Stranger on the Shore: Placing the Postcolonial (15 credits)
- Preparing for Employment: Research and Employability (15 credits)
- Shakespeare Unstuck (15 credits)
- Writing for Newspapers and Magazines (15 credits)
- Vampires, Virgins and Villains: Reading the Gothic (15 credits)
YEAR 3 - Level 6
- Undergraduate Major Project (30 credits)
- Decade: The Literature of the 1950s (15 credits)
- Publishing in Practice (15 credits)
- Adaptations and Afterlives (15 credits)
- Working in English, Film and Media (15 credits)
- Neverland to Wonderland: Explorations in Children’s Literature (15 credits)
- Reading the Now: Contemporary Literature (15 credits)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
88 UCAS Points from a related subject and 5 GCSE grades C/4 or above including English and maths.
Mature students or students who do not have the above qualifications can contact our admissions team on 01733 214466 or admissions@ucp.ac.uk to discuss equivalent qualifications or relevant work experience. For more information on EU and overseas qualifications, UCAS, accreditation of prior learning and failure to meet the entry requirements please visit www.ucp.ac.uk
When studying this course at University Centre Peterborough, we will timetable your lectures as two full days a week over two semesters per year (part-time will be one to two full days a week over two semesters per year).
We are able to offer this convenient timetabling to our students as we are a smaller institution so we can timetable our staff and resources more efficiently.
Over the duration of your course, teaching will be delivered by the following methods:
Year one for full-time students (Level 4)
- 20% Lectures
- 70% Seminars
- 10% Workshops
Year two for full-time students (Level 5)
- 20% Lectures
- 70% Seminars
- 10% Workshops
Final year for full-time students (Level 6)
- 80% Seminars
- 20% Workshops
There are two semesters per year and each semester is up to 15 weeks which includes up to 12 teaching weeks and 3 assessment weeks.
If studying full-time you will be in classes, seminars and tutorials for approximately 15 hours per week and will spend the rest of your time in independent study and extra-curricular activities including work placement if not embedded in your course. We recommend that full-time students allow an additional 30 hours per week for additional study.
The campus is open Monday to Friday throughout the year and you will also have 24/7 access to a virtual learning environment (VLE) with e-books, journals and abstracts plus teaching resources and interactive tools.
Timetables are available at least 6 weeks before registration and you can refer to the academic calendar for examination weeks and resit periods.
The days of the week you study may change each year and in some circumstances one of the full days might have to be split into two half days, but we aim to keep these as full days where possible.
Throughout the duration of your course you will be assessed by the following methods:
Year one for full-time students (Level 4)
- 80% Coursework
- 20% Written Exams
Year two for full-time students (Level 5)
- 80% Coursework
- 20% Written Exams
Final year for full-time students (Level 6)
- 70% Coursework
- 20% Written Exams
- 10% Practical Exams
Your final degree classification is calculate as an average of all Level 5 and Level 6 credits with the Level 6 credits given twice as much weighting as the Level 5.
Visit our published documents and policies page for The Open University regulations.
There may be additional costs for this course which are not covered by the tuition fee.
As part of the Working in English, Film and Media module in the final year, students on this course will undertake a 120 hour work placement with an arts or media organisation.
As the course is timetabled as full days during the week when studied full-time, this also gives you the flexibility to find a work placement, internship or volunteering opportunity which will improve your employability after you graduate. All students are encouraged to identify work experience in addition to their work placement to aid their career development.
Dr Andrew McDonnell is the Course Leader for the BA (Hons) English Literature and BA (Hons) English Literature with Creating Writing degrees at University Centre Peterborough. He joined University Centre Peterborough in April 2016 and teaches widely across the degree programme. Andrew has been teaching English Literature & Creative Writing since 2003 at various institutions as both a sessional lecturer and assessor, such as University of East Anglia (UEA), Anglia Ruskin and Birkbeck.
His first degree is in Cultural Studies with what was then Norwich School of Art & Design, before taking an MA in Creative Writing at UEA. He holds a doctorate in English and Media from Anglia Ruskin and a PGCHE teaching qualification.
He has been published widely and is the poetry editor for Gatehouse Press, home to Lighthouse Literary Journal as well providing leisure classes in arts and languages in Norwich. His current research is in and narrative point of view in working class literature as well as contemporary fenland literature. He is working on his first novel.
Recent conferences and symposiums:
- Advance HE: CBHE Network Festival of Scholarly Activity and Research 2023 – The Sheffield College (talk given: Where We Learn From)
- Advance HE: CBHE Network Festival of Scholarly Activity and Research 2024 – University Centre Peterborough (talk given: You Are the Writer: Using the second-person to explore self-agency)
- UNESCO Cities of Literature – Edinburgh University and Napier (2024)
- Writing the Fens Symposium – University Centre Peterborough (2025). Paper given: ‘A Realm Which Bites, Snags and Troubles: The East Anglian Fens as an Uncanny Space for Creative Writing’
Qualifications
- PhD English & Media, Anglia Ruskin
- MA Creative Writing, University of East Anglia
- BA (Hons) Cultural Studies, Norwich School of Art & Design
- Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE), Anglia Ruskin University
Recent Publications
- The Somnambulist Cookbook (Salt, 2019)
- Masculinity – An Anthology of Modern Voices (three poems) (Broken Sleep Books, 2023)
- Before the Dreadful Daylight Starts – Poems About Norfolk (Three poems) (Waterland Books, 2024)
- ‘Iron Bridge’ (poem) – The Rialto (2024)
- As editor: Storyworlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies – Voicing the Erased: Critical and Creative practice in the 21st Century Short Story (University of Nebraska, 2025)
- Ten Poems About Norfolk (contribution – poem) (Candlestick Press, 2025)
- Our Story Needs Your Story: Writing Working Class Experience (Story Machine, 2025)
- 55 Devotionals (Against Erasure) (Broken Sleep Books, 2026)
Course information
Ucas Code
Q310
Location
Peterborough
Start Date
September
Fees
Tuition fees are £9,000 per year for full-time students and £6,750 for part-time students, which is lower than many other universities.
For further financial support check your eligibility for the Malcom Bradbury Bursery.
Duration
Full-time: 3 years (2 full days a week over two semesters per year)
Part-time: 4 years (1-2 full days a week over two semesters per year)
Validated by
The Open University
Tariff points
88
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