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.
- Literary werewolves and vampiresCourse start date: Sat 19 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Megan BeechOn this short course we will explore the way in which authors in the nineteenth century created and shaped what we write and think about vampires and werewolves today. We will read extracts from Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla alongside various short stories, penny dreadfuls, and news articles from the period.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Study day: Manet & the revolutionaries of realismCourse start date: Sat 19 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore Realism in the nineteenth century, focusing on Manet as its key example, considering such issues as social and political change, formal and subject developments, theoretic interests and artistic influences.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - An introduction to poetryCourse start date: Sat 26 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Laurie SmithAlways wanted to read and discuss poetry? Enjoy this introduction to a range of poetry from the last 400 years and explore how the poets shape our responses. - Fifties film noir: Kiss me DeadlyCourse start date: Sat 26 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John WischmeyerFilm Noir was the term coined by French critics to describe a distinctive style in American cinema during the decade after the war. In the transitional 1950s, genres that had been Hollywood staples began to change, evolve, or fade away. Film Noir evolved because it was too vital, too useful, and just too enjoyable to fade away. Just as John Huston’s Maltese Falcon (1941) kick-started film noir in the forties, his Asphalt Jungle (1950) introduced a darker fifties’ noir. Or did noir begin and end with Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) and Touch of Evil (1958)? ((See related courses on Fifties Melodrama and Musicals and 50 Films From the ‘50s: Hollywood’s Last Stand).Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Deciphering the Rosetta StoneCourse start date: Sat 26 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Hugo Cook200 years after one of history’s most famous puzzles was deciphered, tour around the British Museum’s new Decipherment exhibition and learn how the mystery of Hieroglyphs was unravelled with the Rosetta Stone, with other archaeological clues, and with a bit of genius.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
- Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00
- A women’s history of modern ChinaCourse start date: Sat 2 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Qiuyang ChenDiscover the untold stories and hidden legacies of women in modern China in this illuminating one-day course. Traverse time, from the late Qing Dynasty to the present, to examine how women have shaped and been shaped by social, political, and cultural currents.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Screening the vampire: from Nosferatu (1922) to Renfield (2023)Course start date: Sat 2 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Paul SuttonF. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) is acknowledged as one of the all-time greats of cinema, expressing as one critic describes it, the ‘poetry of fear’ and as one of the first feature length vampire films it’s influence, and legacy has been widely felt. Chris McKay’s Renfield (2023), comes just over one hundred years after Nosferatu and marks one of the most recent instalments in a genre that continues to renew itself for each generation of film viewers. Exploring a range of key vampire films from across this century of cinema, this course will explore why the vampire film remains such a popular sub-genre of the horror film and it will consider why it continues to exercise such power over its spectators.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Creative writing: getting startedCourse start date: Sat 9 Nov 2024 (and 9 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: William BradyGive creative writing a try on this fun and supportive short course. Ideal if you want to express yourself but need help in getting started. Guided exercises will encourage you to experiment and unlock your imagination.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - Study day: Impressionism – radical styleCourse start date: Sat 9 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the Impressionist movement, focusing on Monet as its key example, considering such issues as stylistic progress, artistic influences, material developments, modern subject matter, and social context.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
- Dante's Divine Comedy: an introductionCourse start date: Sat 16 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Francesco BucciolThe Divine Comedy is an imaginary journey through the three realms of the afterlife, a fascinating compendium of life in 14th century Italy. Dante's ability to depict humanity in all its aspects is timelss and has fascinated readers ever since. - Masters of style: reading and writing HemingwayCourse start date: Sat 16 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Phyllis RichardsonErnest Hemingway was the master of minimalist short fiction. While writing drafts, he pared his writing down to what he felt was 'true'. This day workshop explores the literary interpretations of two of his seminal short stories and writing exercises that encourage you to experiment with Hemingway's style.
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