Humanities
From ‘Africa today’ to ‘Writing fiction’, the Humanities department offers an extraordinarily wide variety of part-time courses. Many of our tutors are nationally recognised in their own fields, with award-winning novelists, poets and writers for children; published historians on everything from the ancient world to modern London; and practising professionals in the media.As a learner you can also benefit from our partnerships with organisations such as the British Film Institute, The British Museum, the London Transport Museum, London Metropolitan University and many others.
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- A taste of creative writing
- Advanced critical workshop for creative writers
- Autobiographical writing
- Autobiography into fiction
- Comedy sketch writing
- Comedy writing for TV: the mechanics
- Creating fiction
- Creative non fiction weekend
- Creative writing: making characters work
- Crime writing: an introduction
- Developing your writing
- Exploring creativity: word games for writing
- Exploring fiction
- Freelance journalism
- Furthering your creative writing
- How to structure a poem
- How to write fiction
- How to write novels
- How to write novels (continuation)
- Improve your English through creative writing (level 1)
- Improve your English through creative writing (level 2)
- Introduction to novel plotting
- Joke writing
- Monty Python study day
- Performance poetry
- Playwriting: an introduction
- Playwriting: stage 1
- Playwriting: stage 1 (continuation)
- Playwriting: stage 2
- Poetry in the making
- Poetry in the making with John Stammers
- Radio playwriting workshop
- Reading for writing
- Saving your life: writing autobiography
- Screenwriting for TV and cinema
- Screenwriting: an introduction
- Screenwriting: stage 1
- Screenwriting: stage 2
- Scriptwriting for television
- Scriptwriting for television: an introduction
- Short story writing : daytime
- Short story writing: evening
- Towards a novel
- Try your hand at writing drama
- Unlocking your creativity
- Ways into creative writing
- Ways into poetry
- Write a short story from start to finish
- Write a short story in a weekend
- Writers' club
- Writing a short film
- Writing children's books
- Writing children's books (continuation)
- Writing comedy scripts
- Writing comedy scripts 2
- Writing fiction
- Writing for children
- Writing for children (continuation)
- Writing for children workshop
- Writing for children: a taster
- Writing for children: an introduction
- Writing for children: the picture book
- Writing low-budget feature films
- Writing Poetry/Writing Fiction
- Writing satirical comedy
- Writing short stories for magazines
- Writing song lyrics
- Writing surreal comedy
- Writing TV soaps
- Writing your family biography
- ESOL reading and writing: entry 1
- ESOL reading and writing: entry 2
- ESOL reading and writing: entry 3
- ESOL reading and writing: level 1
- ESOL reading and writing: level 2
- ESOL speaking and listening: entry 1
- ESOL speaking and listening: entry 2
- ESOL speaking and listening: entry 3
- ESOL speaking and listening: level 1
- ESOL speaking and listening: level 2
- Grammar in practice (part 1)
- Grammar in practice (part 2)
- Preparation for IELTS
- Writing good English
- Writing skills for speakers of other languages
- A taste of film: artists
- A taste of film: directors
- Alternative cinema
- An introduction to film
- Antonioni and Bergman: the arthouse adventure
- Breaking into the film industry
- British Documentary in the 21st century
- Chinese cinema
- Contemporary cinema
- Fantasy cinema
- Fifties film forever!
- Film at the BFI: Citizen Kane and the magnificent Welles
- Film at the BFI: Paul Newman, the sweet bird of youth
- From Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars: the new Hollywood 1967-1977
- German cinema
- Imagining the documentary: styles and forms
- Italian Cinema: The Bicycle Thieves scene by scene
- Key films of the 20th century
- Monday movies: afternoon introduction to cinema
- Revolutionary Road: scene by scene
- Sherlock Holmes in the cinema
- The art film
- The celluloid city
- The crime film
- The French New Wave: a free cinema
- The haunted projection box: an exploration of silent film
- The musical: hooray for Hollywood
- The scope of South Korean cinema
- World cinema weekend
- 17th century art and culture: beyond the Renaissance
- Africa today: policies and visions for the future
- Africa today: the historical roots of contemporary problems
- Africa today: the political and economic dispensation
- An introduction to classical Greece
- An introduction to family history
- Ancient Egypt: power struggles in the new kingdom
- Ancient Egypt: the long decline
- Angevin kings, magnates and people: 1154 to 1272
- Anglo-Saxon treasures
- Arab nationalism: independent states
- Arab nationalism: post 1945
- Arab nationalism: the roots
- Assyrian art in the British Museum: the lion hunt
- Baroque music and Bach
- Baroque music: an introduction
- British foreign policy since Blair
- Budapest and the Hungarian musical revival
- Building and rebuilding London: 1667-1760
- Building and rebuilding London: 1760-1837
- Captain James Cook, FRS: sailor and scientist
- Chinese people and cultures
- Current affairs: part 1
- Current affairs: part 2
- Designs for living: arts and crafts in ancient Egypt
- Eighteenth century England and the Beggar's Opera
- Europe's age of discovery and empire building
- Fighting pharaohs: the warrior rulers of ancient Egypt
- Film and social change
- Globalisation: the philosophy of world affairs
- History and music: Borodin, scientist and composer
- History and music: the Ballet Russes and Russian society
- How democracy works
- Human rights and international relations part 1
- Human rights and international relations part 2
- Human rights and refugees in a global context
- Images of citizens and kings in the 17th century
- International human rights: biased and selectively applied
- Introduction to classical Rome: history, politics and society
- Introduction to classical studies: poetry and visual arts
- Introduction to Islam part 1: history
- Introduction to Islam part 2: intellectual life
- Introduction to Islam part 3: art and culture
- Introduction to Islam part 4: contemporary society
- Letters from history
- Life and death in ancient Egypt
- London: 1066-1350
- London: 1350-1485
- London: 1485-1547
- Lords of Mycenae
- Maritime empires and trade in the ancient Mediterranean: part 1
- Maritime empires and trade in the ancient Mediterranean: part 2
- Medieval trade routes: sheer silk
- More current affairs
- Music and history: Offenbach and 19th century France
- Music in Elizabethan London: long live fair Oriana
- Mysteries in history: why did the Roman empire fall
- Norman kings, magnates and people 1066 to 1154
- Outposts of Byzantium
- Paris, musical capital
- People of the first crusade
- Religion and conflict in 17th century Europe
- Russia: from revolution to Stalinism
- Russia: Stalinism and after
- Seventeenth century history: magic, religion and science
- Songs of rebellion: lyric poetry 1603-1660
- The golden age of the Dutch Republic
- The silver age of Russian literature
- The story of Amsterdam
- The story of Budapest
- The story of Paris
- The Trojan war in Greek art and literature
- Tireless travellers
- Transporting London: history, architecture and design
- U.S. history from Washington to Obama
- Understanding the Israel-Palestine conflict
- Women in Etruria and Ancient Rome
- A taste of food writing
- A taste of journalism
- Broadcast journalism
- ESOL through journalism
- ESOL through journalism part 2
- Freelance journalism stage 2
- Freelance writing for newspapers and magazines
- Get your message across
- How to market yourself as a freelance journalist
- How to write a press release
- Interviewing for print journalism
- Introduction to freelance journalism
- Journalism: the basics
- Print journalism for beginners
- Travel journalism workshop
- Travel writing workshop
- Writing reviews
- A taste of 18th century literature
- A Wilde day
- An introduction to literature: a themed approach
- An introduction to literature: drama
- An introduction to literature: poetry and prose
- AS level English literature
- City Lit evening reading group
- City Lit reading group
- Classic drama
- Classic short stories
- Contemporary poetry
- Dante's Purgatory: the poetry of redemption part 1 cantos 1-6
- Dante's Purgatory: the poetry of redemption part 2 cantos 7-13
- Dante's Purgatory: the poetry of redemption part 3 cantos 14-20
- Dante's Purgatory: the poetry of redemption part 4 cantos 21-27
- Dante's Purgatory: the poetry of redemption part 5 cantos 28-33
- Detective novels and thrillers from the Victorian era to the present
- Drama in society
- Film of the book
- Introduction to poetry
- Jane Austen and romanticism
- Literary landmarks
- Modern American literature
- Paradise Lost
- Poetry and feeling
- Poetry: the spirit of place
- Shakespeare in performance
- Shakespeare's madmen: Titus Andronicus, Hamlet and King Lear
- Shakespeare's women
- Shakespeare: four plays
- The 19th century novel
- The early poetry of Dante: La Vita Nuova
- The greatest English medieval romance: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- The poet's voice
- Three classic novels
- Two post-modern classics: Murdoch and Fowles
- Visiting London theatre today
- Ways into literature: a themed approach
- Ways into literature: drama
- Ways into literature: poetry and prose
- Women at war: an exploration through fiction
- Women writers at the fin de siecle
- World fictions
- A taste of philosophy
- Are religion and science incompatible
- Blade Runner: Is the self a simulation
- Can we know about the real world
- Chinese philosophy
- Existentialism: an introduction
- Faith against reason
- Hinduism: the fount of religions
- Introduction to ethics
- Mind and brain
- Philosophical life coaching
- Philosophy and the ancient Greeks: Aristotle
- Philosophy and the ancient Greeks: Plato
- Philosophy and the self
- Philosophy of music
- Philosophy of science part 1: experiment, observation and evidence
- Philosophy of science part 2: the limits of scientific inquiry
- Philosophy taster: aesthetics - art and anti-art
- Philosophy: aesthetics - art and anti-art
- Philosophy: language and power
- Philosophy: the self, freedom and responsibility
- Political philosophy
- The evolution of 'evolution'
- The Revolution in Science
- Theravadu and Mahayana Buddhism
- Time
- Ways into philosophy (great thinkers)
- Ways into philosophy (key themes)
- Ways into philosophy (thinking straight)
- What is happiness
- A musical medley of the 1930s
- Brave New World: 1930s Avant Guarde
- Britain in the 30s: an overview of society and the arts
- Funny. The 30s through the cartoonists
- Into the Dream Palace
- London walks: 1930s London Architecture in the Aldwych and the Strand
- London walks: the East End in the 1930s
- Love on the dole: Films in 1930s Britain
- The edge of the abyss: recovery and disaster
- The poetry of the 30s: Auden and MacNeice
- Visualising the modern: painters of the 1930s
- What the papers said
Browse full range of courses
- Visual arts
- Art foundation and portfolio preparation courses
- Art history
- Bookbinding, book arts and conservation
- Calligraphy
- Ceramics
- Design
- Digital arts
- Drawing
- Drawing and painting from life
- Fashion, sewing and clothesmaking
- Fibre arts: textiles and basketry
- Graphic design, DTP, illustration and cartooning
- Interior decoration
- Jewellery
- Mosaics
- Painting
- Printmaking
- Professional practice
- Sculpture
- View all in Visual arts
- Find out more about the Visual arts department
- Photography
- Languages
- Arabic
- Catalan
- Chinese (Mandarin)
- Classical languages
- Cornish
- Czech
- Dutch
- French
- Gaelic (Scottish)
- German
- Hindi
- Italian
- Japanese
- Language tasters
- Modern foreign languages teacher training
- Modern Greek
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Spanish
- Welsh
- View all in Languages
- Find out more about the Languages department
- Drama, dance and speech
- Accredited Dance Courses
- Advanced acting courses
- Bi-media courses: TV, radio and sound
- Communication courses for speakers of other languages
- Courses for professional actors
- Dance and movement
- Follow-on drama courses
- Introductory drama courses
- One and two-day courses
- One-week intensive courses
- One-year advanced diploma
- One-year drama access course
- One-year drama foundation course
- Professional skills - technical
- Professional skills for actors
- Professional theatre company
- Summer school
- Sunday courses
- Voice, speech and communication
- View all in Drama, dance and speech
- Find out more about the Drama, dance and speech department
- Humanities
- Anthropology
- Business and economics
- Communications and study skills
- Creative writing
- English for speakers of other languages
- Film
- Folklore, myth and spiritual studies
- History and politics
- Journalism
- Latin America
- Literature
- London walks
- Philosophy
- Science and environment
- Summer school: Britain in the 1930s
- View all in Humanities
- Find out more about the Humanities department
- Music
- Health and movement studies
- Alexander technique
- Anatomy and physiology
- Complementary health studies
- Continuing professional development for therapists
- Energy and healing
- Massage and bodywork: introductory level
- Massage and bodywork: professional practitioner level
- Meditation and stress management
- Movement classes
- Nutrition and food safety
- Self-defence
- Training for teachers
- Yoga
- Your progression routes to teaching
- View all in Health and movement studies
- Find out more about the Health and movement studies department
- Computing
- Apple Mac
- Basic computing
- Courses leading to a qualification
- Desktop publishing
- eBay, podcasting and blogging
- Graphic illustration and multimedia
- Microsoft Office 2007 applications
- Networking
- PC maintenance
- Programming
- Sunday courses
- The internet
- Web page design
- View all in Computing
- Find out more about the Computing department
- Psychology, counselling & personal development
- English, maths & ESOL
- Deaf education
- Careers in care work
- Access to higher education
- Progress - courses for people with learning difficulties
- Speech therapy
- Teacher & management training
Featured course
A taste of 18th century literature
Why City Lit?
If you are looking for a great choice of inspiring courses; a bright, modern environment to learn in located in central London; the opportunity to have fun and meet like-minded people, we look forward to seeing you at City Lit!