These short-term, intensive programs run for two or three weeks and credit can be awarded at either the undergraduate or graduate level. Students have the choice of attending one or multiple of the following programs:

* Term One: Literature – Modernism (2 weeks)
* Term Two: Literature – Scottish Literature (2 weeks)
* Term Three Literature – Contemporary Literature (2 weeks)
* Creative Writing (3 weeks)

All of these courses can be taken independently or, if you are interested in extending your stay, it is possible to participate in more than one literature program or combine the Modernism program with Creative Writing.

The literature courses provide an opportunity to hear leading novelists, poets, literary critics, and historians discuss the social, historical and theoretical influences that have impacted modern British literature. Prominent speakers in the past have included:

* David Daiches
* Cairns Craig
* Arthur Marwick
* Terry Eagleton
* Toril Moi
* Christopher Harvie
* Samuel Hynes
* Bernard Crick
* Catherine Belsey
* Philip Hobsbaum
* Randall Stevenson
* Brian McHale

The SUISS encourages you to freely interact with these distinguished scholars and personalities, sharing your ideas and observations with them and other visiting students.

Whether you participate in Modernism, Scottish Literature, Contemporary Literature or all of the above, your courses will include an intensive program of lectures and seminars. You will attend lectures each weekday morning and seminars four times a week.

The Creative Writing course provides experience in a variety of genres, including fiction, poetry, drama and writing for the screen and for children. You'll benefit from an excellent opportunity to sharpen your creative writing skills through workshops and seminars.

Students participating in the Contemporary Literature or Creative Writing programs will find that the program dates coincide with the Edinburgh International Festival, the Fringe Festival, and the International Book Festival.