English and American Literature with a Placement Year

English and American literature together span the full breadth of writing in the English language, from the medieval roots of English literature through the Renaissance and Romantic periods to the modernist revolution and the extraordinary diversity of contemporary fiction, poetry, and drama produced on both sides of the Atlantic. American literature adds a distinct tradition, one shaped by the founding myths and contested realities of a new nation, by the voices of African American, Indigenous, immigrant, and regional writers who have expanded and challenged what the category of American literature can mean.

At the University of East Anglia, this degree carries particular weight. UEA is home to one of the UK's most celebrated creative writing programmes and has a distinguished literature faculty with a strong research culture. Studying English and American literature here places you in an environment where the relationship between reading, writing, and critical thinking is taken seriously, and where the literary past and the literary present are in active conversation.

This four-year full-time programme includes a placement year, giving you the opportunity to work in a professional environment, whether in publishing, arts organisations, media, education, or a range of other sectors where the skills developed through literary study are valued.

You will read widely across periods and genres, develop close reading and analytical skills, write essays and arguments that place individual texts in historical and theoretical context, and engage with critical traditions from close formalism to postcolonial, feminist, and cultural theory. UEA's setting in Norwich, a city with a rich literary heritage and the status of a UNESCO City of Literature, adds a distinctive dimension to the experience.

Graduates of English and American literature programmes go on to careers in publishing, journalism, education, the civil service, marketing, communications, law, and the creative industries. Many also pursue postgraduate study in literature, creative writing, or related fields.