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.
- Craft focus: grammar, syntax and style for creative writers - getting started
Course start date: Sat 10 May 2025 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Online
Tutors: William BradyGreat poetry and prose begin when the writer puts the right words in the right places. Learn how and why the rules and conventions of language matter in this new course, which combines creative writing with a review of essential points of grammar.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - Dickens' London Course start date: Sat 10 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Molly Rumbelow'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.' Enjoy this introduction to Dickens' work and the London of his time. Morning lecture at City Lit followed by a walk in the area of the city connected to his work.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Writing and rewriting fairytales Course start date: Sun 11 May 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: KR MoorheadOnce upon a time there was a City Lit workshop all about writing fairytales. The quest: to inspire writers to pen stories of love, fear, forests, revenge, dragons, witches, kings, queens, frogs and magic.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - Tuesday talks: Emily Kam KngwarrayCourse start date: Tue 1 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Arjmand AzizIn July 2025 a major solo exhibition of Emily Kam Kngwarray, considered to be one of Australia’s greatest artists, will be held at Tate Modern. This course aims to introduce British audiences to the oeuvre of this remarkable artist.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Art history taster Course start date: Tue 1 Jul 2025 (and 7 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayCurious about art history? Join us for this taster session where we explore different ways into visual art and its histories from the ancient to the contemporary.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £10.00 - Art in England transformed: the court of Charles ICourse start date: Wed 2 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Online
The art collection of King Charles I (1600-1649) was magnificent and hugely influential. Explore the artists, craftsmen, agents and connoisseurs who shaped one of the most important European art collections and learn about how objects and artists from across Europe made their way to London.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Master drawings from Leonardo to Degas: experiment and expressionCourse start date: Thu 3 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Explore the significant role of drawing in shaping art and how artists have used different drawing techniques for creative expression.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Edvard Munch: beyond the ScreamCourse start date: Fri 4 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Online
This session on Edvard Munch aims to give a fuller picture of the Norwegian artist’s creative legacy. To do so we will shed light on lesser-known works and aspects of his career. Munch’s art will appear immensely personal, and biographical, but also deeply connected to the cultural context in fin-de-siecle Europe.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Indian Women and the RajCourse start date: Sat 5 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: T HussainWhy does gender history matter and what can it tell us about the history of British colonialism and India? Join this six-week course to explore the representations and reality of Indian women’s lives during the British colonial era.Full fee £49.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £32.00 - Philosophy of artCourse start date: Sat 5 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Christopher HornerWhy do we value art? For the pleasure it gives us, the emotion it expresses, its truthfulness, its form? In this introduction to the philosophy of art we will consider various approaches to these questions and others. - How to pitch your screenplay Course start date: Sat 5 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Alan NixonYou've worked hard on a screenplay but how do you sell it? This short intensive course identifies tools you can select to create a compelling Pitch Treatment.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - Streets of Horror, Streets of Hope: The East End, 1888Course start date: Tue 8 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Sarah WiseBecause of the ‘Jack the Ripper’ killings, the late-Victorian East End can be read as a cityscape of poverty and fear. But there is another Whitechapel – a magnet for a variety of individuals from a wide range of backgrounds who sought to grapple with the problems of the modern city and to create a better life.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Gender, Desire and the Body in PoetryCourse start date: Tue 8 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Ranging from sixteenth century love sonnets via bawdy Restoration verse to a Victorian eroticised poetic narrative, this course examines how the language of love and desire, and the poetic representations of gendered bodies, provide an idiom that can be used to express both conservative and more subversive cultural ideas.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Lunchtime lecture: Louise Bourgeois, the abject and the eroticCourse start date: Wed 9 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayAn introduction to the art of Louise Bourgeois, its feminism, both erotic and abject. We explore Bourgeois as a sculptor, printmaker and performance artist, looking at how she was influenced by psychology and biography.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £7.00 - The Odyssey reading group (in translation) Course start date: Thu 10 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Justin MurrayHomer’s epic tale of Odysseus’ journey home after the Trojan War may now be over 2,500 years old but it still has much to tell us about the Ancient Greek world that is still relevant today. Explore this great work in translation.
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