At the English Department we recognize that the value of an academic experience cannot be reduced to study programmes and credit points. The extra-curricular frameworks attached to our Department provide opportunities for students to participate in campus life outside the classroom. Students are strongly encouraged to show initiative--for instance, to organize reading groups that reflect their love for a particular author, or to join existing groups. We have a student-run Film club, a Creative Writing Workshop, and various theme-based reading groups. We regularly collaborate with the Jerusalem Cinematheque and organize informal public lectures in town.

For information about reading groups and initiatives contact the Department Chair.

Creative Writing Lab

The Creative Writing Lab invites B.A. and M.A. students to explore and develop their creative writing skills in both fiction and poetry. Through sessions held once every two weeks, participants will engage with key aspects of creative writing such as focalization, characterization, dialogue and pacing. Each meeting tackles a specific topic, accompanied by writing prompts, peer feedback, and guided discussions that encourage experimentation across genres and forms.

Reading Groups

The English Department hosts several reading groups run jointly by students and staff. Over the years we have had a mixture theme-based and author-based groups. We are always happy to hear suggestions. To suggest a new reading group contact the Department Chair, Ruben Borg For information about current active reading groups contact the Department secretary.

Film Club

The English Department film club is run jointly by students and members of staff. Films are screened in the multimedia room of the Humanities library, and are preceded by a brief introductory talk (no spoilers). Not all films are adaptations of a literary classic, but some literary connection, or degree of literary interest is to be expected.

A partial list of previous screenings includes Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, John Huston's The Dead, Steve Jacobs's Disgrace, Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple, Ana Lily Amirpour's A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Steven Spielberg's Jaws, Roman Polanski's Chinatown, Peter Yates's The Dresser, Joseph Sargent’s Colossus: The Forbin Project, Chris Marker's La Jetée and Steve Box and Nick Park's Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Each year, the screening is themed. The 2017-2018 program was themed Blood and Water. 2018-2019 was  More Human than Human: Monsters, Misfits, and Simulacra. 2019-2020 was the Magical and the Mundane.

The theme for 2025-26 is Musicals