Master of Arts [M.A] [Literature Today] From Utrecht University

Do you wonder how a literary work becomes a classic or bestseller in the Digital Age? Would you like to learn about the steps taken between publishing a manuscript and the media reviews, talk shows, or blogs in which the work is discussed? Then the ?programme offered by?.

Literature today continues to inspire as a laboratory of ideas, dreams, and narratives, even while facing new challenges. Novels, poems, and short stories now reach their audiences through printed books, e-books, and audiobooks, and through the Internet. Literary texts, including the classics, are being adapted to games and TV dramas, yet a growing numbers of visitors to book fairs shows that literature itself remains a powerful medium.

You will be equipped with the tools to identify and explain the quality of literary works in times of increasing commercialisation. You will learn how literature circulates within the market as part of a creative industry sustained by centuries-old tradition, and you will investigate from theoretical and practical angles how to help to spread literature, explain it to a broader public, and translate academic insights for the reading public.

Critical reflection, building up a repertoire, the consolidation of writing skills, and an understanding of how literary institutions operate in an era of globalisation are central to your studies during this programme. You can also complete an internship with publishing houses, media corporations, libraries, literary foundations, or cultural institutions ? the job market and professional field for which this Master?s programme prepares you.

Careers

During the Master?s programme, you will get to know different literary institutions that operate in the field of literature and culture. After finishing this programme, you can use the academic and practical skills that you acquired during your year of study and begin working at one of these institutions.?

You will be an expert on literature today who can work at (inter)national publishing houses, cultural institutions ? places like the British Council, the Flemish-Dutch cultural platform deBuren (Brussels), the cultural centre deBalie (Amsterdam), etc. ? libraries, or bookshops, or in media, museums, theatres, or literary-cultural festivals. In a wider sense, you are prepared for a future career in the sectors of literature, culture, and communication.

The Master?s programme in Literature Today prepares students for a broad spectrum of occupations that require expertise in literature and literary institutions. These can be in the fields of editing and publishing, organisation and event management, journalism, education, archival and library services, or even research and research support.?