Bolton BA Hons English & Creative Writing

Course details

Literature is an extraordinary resource for broadening your intellectual understanding. It’s one of the most powerful ways we can experience others’ lives, enjoy worlds we’ve never visited, and develop our appreciation for the sheer power of words in expressing ideas and emotions. Through in-depth study and analysis of a range of texts and formats – including prose, poetry and plays – you’ll have the chance to hone your critical skills and develop your prowess as a creative communicator.

We’ll guide and support you through a rich course of study that should help you extend your understanding of language and how it can inform, persuade, shock and delight. Join us on a journey into the world of literature, where we’ll help you develop a deeper understanding of the social, political, historical and cultural contexts, and the impact of literary texts.

Our experienced and highly qualified team offers you a supportive environment in which to explore the central role of language in the creation of meaning. Through research, discussion, argument and analysis, you’ll have opportunities to learn to use language, effectively and powerfully, to achieve your goals.

Course details

If you feel Creative Writing is for you, contact us via the button below and one of our lecturers will be in touch to provide you with more information. Don’t forget you can try one of our selected courses for free right now!

try now for freejoin today

Key features

We offer popular options in women’s writing, Gothic fiction, children’s literature, film adaptation and contemporary poetry, as well as a range of creative writing workshops in poetry, fiction and drama.


Employability

We’ll help you develop a range of skills highly valued by employers, such as written and verbal communication, presenting information and ideas, argument and persuasion, working to tight deadlines, and research and critical analysis.


Your tutors

You can benefit from the latest thinking and discoveries, as our course tutors are active researchers in poetry, prose and drama, and feed their knowledge back into the curriculum.


Guest lecturers

You can attend guest lectures from literary scholars, and hear contemporary writers’ work at the University’s regular literature events.


Highlights

  • Our English and Creative Writing courses are ranked second in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2020.
  • The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020 also ranks our English subject area as top in the UK for student experience and second in the UK for teaching quality.
  • You’ll get the opportunity to benefit from our strong links with external creative organisations, including the nationally acclaimed Octagon Theatre, Bolton, where you can gain behind-the-scenes access and workshop experience.
  • To give you publishing experience, we encourage you to submit your work to our literary magazine The Bolton Review.
  • Our dedicated and enthusiastic lecturers are professional writers and researchers whose work is published or produced on stage, screen or radio.
  • We have excellent industry contacts and strong links to external creative organisations such as publishers, production companies, theatres, libraries, art galleries, schools, funding bodies and arts development agencies – so we can offer you work experience in a wide variety of settings.


Bolton BA Hons Creative Writing

Course details

Our BA (Hons) Creative Writing degree explores ‘how to put the best possible words in the best possible order’. Your imagination is boundless and we’ll help you to focus and control your ideas to give them shape, energy and structure. Our dedicated team of professional writers and lecturers will guide you on a journey through the worlds of prose, poetry and drama, and contemporary creative practice.

We’ll nurture and support you in exploring the rich, expressive potential of the English language and your development of the crafts of writing. Alongside this, we’ll examine, from a writer’s point of view, a wide range of creative work in various forms. Small group teaching and one-to-one support are central to our approach, allowing our expert team to offer personalised guidance that’s tailored specifically for you.

You’ll have opportunities to refine and develop your skills at every stage, from initial concept, through planning, background research and first drafts, to editing, re-writing and self-critique. The final year combines the creative, the critical and the practical. You’ll write a significant piece of creative work: a calling card script, collection of poetry or an extended piece of fiction; you’ll research and analyse a chosen area of creative practice; and you’ll undertake a work placement in an area associated with your individual career goals. Throughout the course, you’ll gain confidence, skills and knowledge, preparing you for a successful career in a multitude of industries.

Course details

If you feel Creative Writing is for you, contact us via the button below and one of our lecturers will be in touch to provide you with more information. Don’t forget you can try one of our selected courses for free right now!

try now for freejoin today

Key features

You’ll be encouraged to get to know your peers from other subjects such as English, Theatre, and Media, Writing and Production, with whom you’ll be participating in a variety of external creative events and/or collaborative projects.


Your tutors

All our lecturers are professional writers and researchers who’ve produced and continue to publish poetry, prose, plays and papers with national and international periodicals and imprints.


Employability

Develop a range of skills alongside your writing that are highly valued by employers, such as creative thinking, problem solving, communication, team working, time management, research and critical analysis, IT, cultural awareness and lifelong learning.


Guest lecturers

There’ll be guest lectures from professionals from all aspects of the writing industry: producers, scriptwriters, poets, novelists, agents, publishers, promoters, and directors. Names you may recognise such as Sally Wainwright, Patrick Ness and Jenn Ashworth have given presentations in recent years.


Professional recognition

The University of Bolton is linked via creative partnerships with Bolton’s own Octagon Theatre and Carcanet, a leading and prize-winning poetry publisher based in Manchester. The university is currently fostering links with South Yorkshire’s leading literary development organisation, The Poetry Business. Writers and lecturers who teach on the course have established links with a variety of media and organisations, including The Guardian, The Poetry Society, NAWE, The British Council and Arts Council England.

Highlights

  • Our dedicated lecturers are active professional writers and researchers whose work continues to be published, or produced on stage, screen or radio. They bring this wealth of expertise and practical knowledge to their teaching.
  • We have excellent industry contacts and strong links with external creative organisations such as publishers, production companies, theatres, libraries, art galleries, schools, funding bodies and arts development agencies that allow us to offer work experience placements in a wide variety of settings.
  • In particular, our partnership with the nationally acclaimed Octagon Theatre, Bolton means you have opportunities for privileged access to rehearsals, dress rehearsals, professional actors and directors, and discounted tickets for productions.
  • In your final year, you’ll have the opportunity to enter the Octagon Student Prize. Awarded annually for outstanding achievement in writing drama, the winning piece is given a professional presentation with practitioners.
  • We’ll encourage you to submit your work to our ISSN recognised literary magazine ‘The Bolton Review’, and to our annual poetry competition.
  • The annual New Writing Showcase offers you a chance to perform your work at the Bolton Octagon Studio or similar venue.
  • As a Creative Writing student, you’ll be eligible to enter work for the Carcanet Poetry Prize and for the And Other Stories Fiction Prize.


Bolton BA Hons English

Course details

The study of literature is the study of the representation of life, a metaphor for understanding how the world works. Our BA in English aims to broaden your life experience, by introducing you to a wide variety of literary texts – fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry, historical, contemporary, from near and far. Through close study, you’ll develop your critical skills, and learn to consider texts from many different perspectives.

We want foremost to expand your understanding of literature and its relation to society – how books have informed, persuaded, shocked and delighted their readers over the centuries and up to the modern day. We’ll support you as you develop your written, oral and critical abilities in a challenging and supportive study environment.

We offer small classes full of big ideas. Our lecturers are renowned scholars and award-winning teachers, who will work to meet your individual learning needs. Through research, discussion, argument and analysis, we offer opportunities for you to learn about the workings of the world around you and to use language effectively and powerfully to achieve your goals.

Join today

If you feel English is for you, contact us via the button below and one of our lecturers will be in touch to provide you with more information. Don’t forget you can try one of our selected courses for free right now!

try now for freejoin today

Key features

We offer popular options in women’s writing, Gothic fiction, children’s literature, film adaptation and contemporary poetry, as well as a range of creative writing workshops in poetry, fiction and drama.


Employability

We’ll help you develop a range of skills highly valued by employers, such as written and verbal communication, presenting information and ideas, argument and persuasion, working to tight deadlines, and research and critical analysis.


Your tutors

You can benefit from the latest thinking and discoveries, as our course tutors are active researchers in poetry, prose and drama, and feed their knowledge back into the curriculum.


Guest lecturers

You can attend guest lectures from literary scholars, and hear contemporary writers’ work at the University’s regular literature events.


Highlights

  • Our English and Creative Writing courses are ranked second in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2020.
  • The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020 also ranks our English subject area as top in the UK for student experience and second in the UK for teaching quality.
  • You can benefit from our strong links with external creative organisations, including the nationally acclaimed Octagon Theatre, Bolton, where you can gain behind-the-scenes access and workshop experience.
  • You’ll have access to reduced-price tickets for Octagon performances and other events related to your course, including poetry readings.
  • We’ll encourage you to submit your work to our recognised literary magazine The Bolton Review so you can gain publishing experience.