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Department of English and Related Literature

Discover a world of literature at York.

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Study with us

On an English degree at York, you'll discover a world of literature.

Our degree programmes offer you flexibility and choice. We provide extensive coverage from ancient classics to contemporary film and literature, with creative writing options and the chance to study literature produced in other languages.

Discover our courses

Find scholarships and funding

Research

A student reading an old text in the Borthwick Archives

Our research ranges across periods and around the globe.

We nurture an environment for collaboration, critical and creative thinking, interdisciplinary work and thought-provoking discussion.

Explore our research

Texts and narrative shape and change the world. Our commitment to understanding how literature reflects and makes the past, present and future is embedded within curiosity-driven modules and flexible degrees that are delivered by expert teachers, researchers and writers.

Professor Jennie Batchelor, Head of Department

for English (Complete University Guide 2026).
We're a top ten research department according to the Times Higher Education Rankings of the latest REF results (2021).
We are very proud to hold a Silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our commitment to promoting equality.
for English and Related Literature (QS World Rankings by Subject 2025).

News

News

16 July 2025

Congratulations to Daniel Matore, whose monograph, 'The Graphics of Verse: Experimental Typography in Twentieth-Century Poetry' (Oxford University Press, 2023), has won the University English Book Prize.

News

15 July 2025

The results of the 2025 National Student Survey have revealed the strengths of the Department of English and Related Literature in ‘teaching on my course’, ‘learning opportunities’, ‘academic support’, ‘organisation and management’, ‘learning resources’ and ‘student voice’.

News

11 June 2025

York is ranked 6th in the UK for English in the latest release of the Complete University Guide league tables (2026).

News

10 June 2025

Congratulations to Dr Nicoletta Asciuto on her new Italian translation of Hope Mirrlees's 'Paris: A Poem'.

Events

Wednesday 19 November 2025 3pm

The first in a series of three seminars this year by Visiting Professor Adam Phillips, Writer and Psychoanalyst.

Wednesday 19 November 2025 5pm

The first in a series of three lectures this year by Visiting Professor Adam Phillips, Writer and Psychoanalyst.

Thursday 4 June 2026 5pm

The Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies Annual Patrides lecture with speaker Professor Emma Smith (Sussex).

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