Researchers in the English and Creative Writing Research Group combine the research skills of specialists in English literature, drama, creative writing, philosophy and sociology to provide a youthful, forward-looking and energetic environment for both staff and postgraduate research.
We organise conferences, bring in outside speakers and speak ourselves in a variety of venues both academic and for the general public, and exploit that energy to deliver a full programme of subject-specific training and, in combination with related departments and the university as a whole, development for early career researchers.
While there is a good deal of emphasis on individual research, increasingly we also work in global networks of researchers collaborating within and across disciplines as well as in networks with external non-academic organisations both locally and internationally, from sheltered housing units to overseas education bureaux.
A small and new group of 15 core members we focus on literature and drama from Shakespeare onwards, with particular expertise in:
- Shakespeare
- eighteenth-century prose and poetry
- nineteenth-century poetry, prose, periodicals and popular fiction
- twentieth-century drama, American and British fiction
- contemporary creative writing in poetry and prose, neo-Victorian poetry, community drama performance and devised theatre
The intellectual areas we focus on combine the established with the emerging:
- communities (audiences, networks, audience-performer interaction)
- women's writing
- gender
- sexuality
- filiation (literary history)
- the popular
- print and the professions
Research Seminar Series
We organise a regular series of seminars to which we invite visiting speakers.
Postgraduate research students
The group welcomes postgraduate research students in our areas of research strength: please see the research study pages for detail of how to apply, and our staff webpages for specifics of research expertise, and our personal statements below.