Explore Culture, History & Humanities Courses
Explore our extraordinary range of History, Culture and Writing courses and lectures. We offer both introductory and specialist in-depth courses to suit all levels of interest and experience, from ‘How to read a film’ and World literature, to Creative non-fiction writing courses and American history and Politics courses.
Our tutors are experts in their fields and experienced educators; many have published, teach in universities or share their expertise in the media. Tutors share their knowledge and passion through presentations, readings, interactive discussion and exercises, analysis, and other activities.
Many students return to take more courses, telling us they enjoy being part of our City Lit Learning community.
Our popular courses often sell out quickly, so we invite you to browse and book your place now.
- Medieval LondonCourse start date: Tue 23 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mike BerlinThis course explores the forces that shaped London between the coming of the Normans and the age of
the Tudors. - Victorian VisionsCourse start date: Tue 23 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Julian Birkett“It was the best of times…it was the worst of times.”
How did the Victorians see the world? They lived through one of the most dramatic periods in our history – and their literature reflects that. Victorian Visions looks at a wide variety of themes in Victorian culture: from the city to the home, from dreams to nightmares, from faith to doubt, from moralism to decadence, from ideology to empire.Full fee £259.00 Senior fee £207.00 Concession £168.00 - British Literature of the 1930s: Brits AbroadCourse start date: Tue 23 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lewis WardOn this in-college literature course we will explore what some of the most significant British authors of the period did and thought on their travels, real and imagined, in the decade leading up to World War II. Authors include Graham Greene, Christopher Isherwood, Jean Rhys and George Orwell.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00 - Global finance: a brief introduction
Course start date: Tue 23 Sep 2025Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Caglar EzikogluExplore the essentials of global finance, learning about international markets, exchange rates, and financial instruments. Gain a foundational understanding of global economic dynamics.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £84.00 - The Birth of English TragedyCourse start date: Tue 23 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Alexander Fairbairn-DixonCome and explore three pioneering tragedies of the early English Renaissance commercial stage (1585-1592): The Spanish Tragedy (1586), Arden of Faversham (1588-92), and Tamburlaine Part I (1587). These plays were to become the models setting the standard and blueprint for three influential sub-genres: Revenge Tragedy, Domestic Tragedy, and Heroic Tragedy. We’ll look at their dramatic inventiveness, creativity in handling sources, and why they enthralled contemporary audiences.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00 - Textiles: an international historyCourse start date: Tue 30 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresAs well as expressing power, prestige and fulfilling symbolic functions, textiles have been intimately linked to the everyday lives of members all societies for millennia. On this course you will study the development of woven, printed and embroidered textiles of many kinds from around the globe and explore the significant roles they have played in the world’s material culture.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00 - Solitude in fiction and memoirCourse start date: Tue 30 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Kate WilkinsonThis online literature course explores representations of solitude in recent fiction and memoir. Reading twentieth- and twenty-first-century texts, we’ll consider experiences of solitude across rural and urban settings, from remote islands to crowded cities. How is solitude shaped by places, culture, gender, age and technology?Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00 - America in the 50s: culture and societyCourse start date: Tue 30 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Pauline Greene, Mark Malcomson, Dale Mineshima-Lowe, Paul Sutton, Patricia Sweeney, Ian TucknottFrom America's domestic expansion and boom in the 1950s, this online intertextual course explores the political, social and cultural context of 1950s America through a study of literature, history, music, film and art of the period. With different tutors for each specialism, the course provides a 'taster' in each subject as a gateway to further study in understanding this fascinating period in American culture and society.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00 - Argonautica: reading group (in translation) module 1Course start date: Tue 7 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Nikoletta Manioti.Full fee £159.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £103.00 - Teatime Talks: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, imagined portraitsCourse start date: Tue 14 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Chantal CondronOne of the most absorbing contemporary artists working in the UK today, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye paints startling ‘portraits’ of characters entirely derived from her imagination. Discover aspects of her artistic process and the ideas and themes behind her paintings on this course.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Debt in the global political economyCourse start date: Tue 21 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Caglar EzikogluExplore the intricacies of debt within the global political economy, examining its impacts, mechanisms, and socio-economic consequences.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £84.00 - The Spanish Empire: Power, Conquest, and LegacyCourse start date: Tue 28 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Maisa EdwardsJoin Dr. Maisa Edwards to explore the rise, global reach and fall of the Spanish Empire from the 1400s to the 1800s.
Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00 - Prostitution in Ancient RomeCourse start date: Tue 4 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sean GabbThe oldest profession as practised among the Romans - not for the squeamish.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - Ancient Greek dramaCourse start date: Tue 18 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Maria ContosHave a taste of exploring the ancient Athenian stage, and how they still speak to us about the challenges we face today.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £111.00 Concession £90.00 - From mythical heroines to the emperor's subjects: epistolography in the Roman EmpireCourse start date: Tue 2 Dec 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Nikoletta ManiotiFind out more about epistolography (letter writing) as a literary genre in the Roman world.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
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