The School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing is dedicated to the study and practice of writing in all of its many forms, to the recovery of the history of writing, and to exploring the interface between the critical and the creative.

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise 65% of our research was rated as internationally excellent or world-leading. Our research focuses on three areas of strength: writing, translation, and cultural histories. 

Research Interests

The School's research interests range chronologically from the medieval to the contemporary. We embrace critical, practical, and theoretical activity in drama, literary translation, life-writing, and creative writing (poetry, prose, and drama). Our research is diverse and interdisciplinary in nature, and individuals contribute to collective endeavours: creative writers and biographers write essays reflecting on their craft; our theorists write poetry; our literary historians contribute to psychoanalytic critical understanding; our translators shape the canon of contemporary literature; and our historians write biography. 

Scholarly Outputs

Our scholarly outputs include intensively researched monographs and critical essays, but we are also at the forefront of exploring how the academy quantifies and assesses the research component of creative writing, translation, and literary journalism. Our research continues to move between, and explore the territory between, the mass media, literary press, and both the textual and digital archive. We are also committed to ensuring our work has a prominent impact outside of the academy and to widening public engagement with what we do, particularly in the areas of creative writing and translation.

Research Environment

The School works hard to foster a productive and engaging research environment for staff and students, and convenes period-specific peer-review groups and a weekly research seminar. We have a large body of research students working in a wide range of subjects, including British and comparative literature, translation, and critical and creative writing. The School also hosts the British Centre for Literary Translation, where our expertise includes the translation of fiction and non-fiction from German, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, French, and Japanese.