Resources and facilities

When you are on campus, you can expect to spend most of your time in the University of Edinburgh's Central Area.

The Central Area is located on the edge of Edinburgh's historic Old Town, surrounded by lots of green space.

The Main University Library in the Central Area holds academic books, journals and databases, films and other media.

It is also the home of the University's Centre for Research Collections which brings together:

• more than 400,000 rare books
• six kilometres of archives and manuscripts
• thousands of works of art, historical musical instruments and other objects

The Centre's literary treasures include:

• an exceptional collection of early Shakespeare quartos and other early modern printed plays put together by the 19th century Shakespearean scholar James Halliwell-Phillipps
• the Corson Collection of works by and about Sir Walter Scott
• the extensive Laing collection of medieval and early modern manuscripts
• the correspondence of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle
• the Ramage collection of poetry pamphlets
• the papers of Helen Cruickshank, one of the leading lights of the 20th century Scottish Literary Renaissance 
• the W.H. Auden collection
• the libraries of Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Hugh MacDiarmid and Norman MacCaig

... as well as letters and papers by, and relating to, authors including:

• Christopher Isherwood
• Marion Lockhead
• Rudyard Kipling
• John Middleton Murry
• Walter de la Mare
• Edwin Muir
• George Mackay Brown
• Compton Mackenzie

Many of the University's Special Collections are digitised and available online from our excellent Resource Centre, computing labs and dedicated study spaces in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC). Our buildings are just across George Square from the Main Library.

Our fantastic Writer in Residence hosts talks and workshops, many of which feature guest writers. They also organise our annual writing prizes for students. Throughout the year, their drop-in sessions give you the chance to:

• share your creative writing
• get feedback
• meet other student writers
• get inspiration and prompts for new work

Across the University, there are lots of opportunities to get involved in:

• reading groups - including the Book Club society
• publishing - including the PublishED society and its magazine, The Inkwell
• student theatre - including Bedlam, the University's oldest theatre society 

The Book Club Society, PublishED and Bedlam are just some of over over 300 student-led societies and clubs supported by the Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA). EUSA also promotes opportunities with local charities through its volunteering centre and supports Peer Support Groups. These are for students across year groups to help each other with specific study skills, topics or themes.

Events in English and Scottish Literature range from talks by visiting speakers and work-in-progress seminars, to reading groups, conferences, workshops, performances, and masterclasses.

Our annual Susan Manning Memorial Lecture commemorates our former colleague Susan as an internationally renowned academic with wide interests, particularly in Transatlanticism. Previous speakers have come from the universities of Pennsylvania, California, Cornell, Yale and Oxford.

As well as our departmental research seminar series, which hosts regular talks throughout the teaching terms, look out for events hosted by:

• SWINC (Scottish Writing in the Nineteenth Century), a network promoting awareness of Scottish writing and culture in the 19th century.
• Edition, a collaborative initiative which supports new research in all aspects of the history of the book.
• The Edinburgh Environmental Humanities Network 
• From Arthur's Seat, our Creative Writing masters students

Each year, we fund the staging of a live performance of a play of literary interest featuring our students in its cast and crew.

Opportunities for PhD students include reading for the James Tait Black Prizes, Britain's oldest literary awards which typically involve reading submissions across fiction and biography and advising the judges on the shortlists.

A UNESCO World City of Literature, Edinburgh is a remarkable place to study, write, publish, discuss and perform prose, poetry and drama.

The city's resources for studying literature are exceptional. Many of them are located close to the University's Central Area, making them easy to access between classes.

In addition to a fantastic range of publishing houses, bookshops, theatres, and cinemas, you will study near the:

• National Library of Scotland*
• National Museum of Scotland
• Edinburgh Central Library
• Scottish Poetry Library
• Scottish Storytelling Centre
• Writers’ Museum

*The National Library of Scotland (NLS) is one of five UK copyright libraries. Among its world-class collection of rare books and manuscripts are the Bute Collection of early modern English drama, and the recently acquired John Murray Archive. Membership is completely free. It gives you access to over 60 million print and digital items in the NLS, and use of the library's reading rooms in Edinburgh's Old Town. 

We have strong links with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which annually welcomes around 1,000 authors to our literary city.