Department of English and Related Literature

Discover a world of literature at York.

Research

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

7th in the UK

for English (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024).

Top ten department

We're a top ten research department according to the Times Higher Education Rankings of the latest REF results (2021).

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Athena Swan Bronze

We are proud to hold a Bronze Athena Swan award in recognition of our commitment to promoting equality.

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35th in the world

for English and Related Literature (QS World Rankings by Subject 2023).

News

Looking for PhD funding? Wolfson Postgraduate Scholarships in the Humanities Competition 2024/25 now open!

With generous funding from the Wolfson Foundation, the Wolfson Postgraduate Scholarships fund doctoral research in three areas: History, Literature and Languages.

Posted on 30 November 2023

York PhD Student Publishes Novel

Congratulations to Adriana Murad Konings, a final year PhD student, whose debut novel Los Días Leves was published yesterday.

Posted on 22 November 2023

Publication News: Ignorance and the Unknowable in Early Modern Thought

Warm congratulations to Professor Kevin Killeen on the publication of his most recent book, Ignorance and the Unknowable in Early Modernity Thought: Natural Philosophy and the Poetics of the Ineffable.

Posted on 1 November 2023