Career Paths

Studying English opens doors to careers across a range of industries, from law to marketing to the arts.

The skills gained an English degree – such as critical thinking, problem-solving and communication – bring value to all workplaces and industries, setting our graduates apart.

We spoke to six graduates from our Department to hear about their jobs and industries, how studying English shaped their career journeys, and their memories of being at King's.

If you're a current or prospective student and would like to learn more about careers after an English degree, find out about our Careers in Literature events.

Jonathan Andrews – Solicitor, trustee of Ambitious about Autism, co-founder of London Bisexual Network

Studying English at King’s allowed me to choose from a range of modules, empowering me to study the areas of literature that interested me most - such as Old English and its translation, and 17th-century literature - which honed my skills interpreting literary meaning in light of historical context.This has proved of great help in my legal career. Understanding the context of statements when they are difficult or unclear, as well as being able to understand the intricacies of English, are vital skills.

While at King's I also joined a number of extracurricular clubs, such as the KCL Literary Society, Creative Writing Society, History and Economics societies. Writing for journals allowed me to hone my writing skills across different disciplines, which has been hugely helpful in law. Attending events meant I mixed with a wide range of people, building confidence for the working world.

Amber Butchart – Fashion Historian, writer and broadcaster

Studying English Literature at King’s allowed me to explore wide areas of history from the Anglo-Saxons through to Jacobean theatre, the Romantics, Second Wave Feminist critical theory and American cinema & popular culture.

The range of approaches we were introduced to, from New Historicism to sociolinguistics, allowed me to develop analytical tools that I use to this day. As a dress historian, the texts I now read and contextualise are clothes rather than literature, but many of my methods remain the same.

For more information about Amber's current projects, visit her personal website.

Image: Jo Duck

Nessa Khurram Humayun – content writer at Viral Threat

I am a writer at VT, a news and entertainment website with a community of over 23 million followers on Facebook, and an editor for the women’s interest website, Four Nine. This is not what I expected to be doing when I graduated King’s a few years ago.

Instead, I first pursed a career in publishing. I soon learned, however, that I was not using the skills that I had most enjoyed developing in my English degree.

And so, after a few sideways steps, including working as a studio production assistant in fashion, I secured my present job as a journalist at Jungle Creations. My day-to-day now involves sourcing, writing and editing stories about anything from Donald Trump’s political blunders to the Kardashian family’s latest stab at ‘breaking the internet.’

Nick Makoha – poet and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Nicholas Makoha I’m the first member in my family to complete a PhD. The Creative Writing Research PhD offered me 3-4 years of concentrated time to develop a new body of work that became The New Carthaginians, plus a thesis and some essays.

Practically, it was the closest university of high calibre to where I lived. I had always wanted to study at King’s, and I wanted to be supervised by Dr Sarah Howe. The relationship between a student and a supervisor is so important, and I believe that my supervisor and I had an excellent working relationship that kept me focused and ambitious in my academic and creative choices. I knew I would always be backed and challenged in equal measure.

My poetry collection was published in February 2025, I taught on the poetry module at King’s, and I presented at the Hay Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival. I have also had a poem shortlisted for the Forward Prize 2025 and been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Megan Beech – PhD candidate, performance poet, activist

King’s allowed me to pursue my love of literature in many directions. I learned new perspectives on old favourites, fell in love with new fields and developed my commitments to social justice through a number of amazing classes.

The intellectual generosity and pastoral support I received is the model I hope to reproduce in my own research and teaching, as I study for a PhD at the University of Cambridge and plan for a career in the academy. Alongside my studies, however, I am also a successful performance poet.

While still a student, I published my debut poetry collection and performed at venues as varied as Parliament, the Glastonbury Festival and the Royal Albert Hall. Much of the confidence to pursue my work as a poet talking openly about mental health and other social issues comes from the challenging teaching and careful mentoring I received at King’s.

Sam Fisher – author, publisher, bookseller

When I left King’s I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew that whatever it was, it would involve books.

I worked for a year in publishing, but left after deciding I wanted to write a novel. To support myself I got a job bookselling and enjoyed it so much that, after around three years, I set up a shop of my own: Burley Fisher Books. In the meantime, I finished The Chameleon, a novel which is, in many ways, built out of texts that I studied at King’s (I never imagined I would return to Ancrene Wisse!).

Bookselling gives you a view of what is being neglected and underprivileged in the wider trade, so setting up a small press seemed the next logical step. In 2017, along with a friend I met in my first week at King’s, we crowdfunded our first four titles.

David Shriver - Senior Advisor, Ocado Group

I can safely say my time at King’s set the trajectory of my life and I am grateful for everything I experienced in my four years on the Strand. That includes not just two degrees – the first, a BA in English Literature; the second, a masters in Anglo-Saxon Language and Literature – but also the life-long friendships I made, the skills I learned outside the classroom (I took up fencing and became captain of the fencing club), and all the growing up I did.

I love the written and spoken word and King's taught me how to interrogate texts and critique them. I have found these skills very helpful in my career, which, over the last 37 years has taken me from London to Paris and from investment banking to communications and reputation management.

But education is not just about unlocking a bigger paycheck (as valuable as that is). It is about how it shapes your view of the world and your relationship to people, places, and things. As the sublime Gore Vidal said, How marvelous books are, crossing world and centuries, defeating ignorance, and, finally, cruel time itself." And to think that I had access to an incredible team of truly great minds in the English department of King’s to help me engage with a diverse range of writers and thinkers.

The playwright Tom Stoppard once wrote, "Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little". King’s gave me the skills to allow me to aspire to that goal and I would have no hesitation recommending a new generation to come to King's and do the same.

Karen Downs-Barton – writer and poet

Karen Downs-Barton 2 When I decided to embark on a PhD in Creative Writing it was to change a narrative about who belongs in those surroundings and that educational level, and challenging views on what children raised in poverty are capable of achieving.

I admired the work of all the creative writing lecturers at King's – but the unique Creative Writing PhD programme and its emphasis on research and craft, sealed the deal. It was incredibly sustaining to be in an environment where I could discuss projects with a supportive, like-minded, community and develop relationships with fellow writers and academics that continue to be part of my writing life.

I know I've grown in confidence since taking the PhD – it has helped me in everything from leading workshops to steering committee membership at Creative Future, as well as bestowing gravitas when approaching people and organisations with projects I'm involved in.

Discover career paths in literature

The Department of English and the Royal Society of Literature host an annual careers event for students, bringing together panellists from a range of literary careers to share their professional tips, highlights and challenges.

Chaired by the founder of Women of the Wick, Sara Kärpänen, this year's panellists included: theatre artist and academic, Mojisola Adebayo; former literary agent and multidisciplinary advisor, Suresh Ariaratnam; co-founder of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, Nic Bottomley and Young Creatives Manager for First Story, Rose Condo.

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Career Paths

Studying English opens doors to careers across a range of industries, from law to marketing to the arts.

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