Apply now for our three new master’s programmes!
The Department of English is now accepting applications to its three new master’s programmes, which will launch in September 2022.
The new additions to the portfolio reflect some established areas of expertise within the Department, as well as capitalising on the institution’s links with the Liverpool arts sector.
MA Creative and Critical Writing will develop students’ abilities in both creative and critical practice. Engaging with global issues of social justice, students will consider how critical practice can inform creative responses in both writing and performance. Through workshop modules and a creative writing dissertation, they will develop their own style and interests in the production of a substantial piece of poetry, prose or drama. In addition to creative writing, students will be able to choose from a broad range of English Literature modules, with topics ranging from slavery and empire in Elizabethan writing to the body in contemporary literature, and from Victorian Gothic to fictions of technology in Science Fiction.
A unique placement module will offer the opportunity to gain practical experience as a writer in residence at one of the University’s partner institutions in the city. As writers in residence in locations such as museums and galleries, students will develop professional skills through activities such as writing in response to exhibitions, or running creative writing workshops. The programme is led by Dr Daniel O’Connor, Colm Tóibín Lecturer in Creative Writing and author of the novel Nothing.
MA English Language will study in depth the range of topics, themes and frameworks that underpin the contemporary discipline of English Language. It will be available on both a full- and part-time basis.
Led by Professor Paul Simpson and Dr Caterina Guardamagna, the programme will offer a distinctive set of modules in English Language, all of which will have a strongly applied dimension, focusing on how language is used in a range of real contexts of use. It will develop methods and techniques for undertaking research into English language – skills which students will use to investigate subjects and topics of their choice – and will offer an optional placement module through an expanding range of partners.
Finally, MRes Science Fiction Studies will offer a research-led alternative to the existing MA Science Fiction Studies. Students will be able to study at their own pace, full- or part-time, on-campus or online.
The University of Liverpool hosts significant archives in the field of science fiction, being the largest such specialist repository in Europe. The programme – led by Dr Will Slocombe – will be delivered through a combination of group training sessions and individual supervisions, through which students will develop their own research project of 30,000-35,000 words within a specialist topic area.
Professor Greg Lynall, Head of English, said: “our new programmes complement our existing master’s courses in English Literature, TESOL and Applied Linguistics by further reflecting the department’s wide range of expertise, demonstrating how we see the study of English as a combination of scholarship and practice, and giving our postgraduate taught students unique opportunities to follow their intellectual passions and increase their employability".