Culture, history & humanities

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.

Courses available both in-person and online

We offer a range of long and short courses allowing you to choose between in-person and online learning.

Learn in the centre of London with our in-person courses. Our purpose-built facilities in Covent Garden mean we are ideally located and easy to get to. 

See our guide to online learning for more information about accessing our live online courses.

All our courses are live, interactive, and taught by expert tutors. No matter how you prefer to learn, we've got the class for you.

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  1. Friday lates: psychogeography: the art of getting lost
    Evening
    Course start date:  Fri 22 Nov 2024 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Christopher Collier
    From pub crawls to punk rock, via comic books, action painting and Hegelian philosophy; hear the unlikely tale of the Situationists: international artist-revolutionaries who tried to change the world itself into a work of art.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
  2. Friday lates: Art in Colonial Australia, painting natural history
    Course start date:  Fri 29 Nov 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Ben Pollitt
    Explore the period of intense artistic activity in the early years of Colonial Australia (c. 1788–1800). We will see how both convicts and military personnel produced hundreds of images depicting the remarkable natural history that they found in the settlement.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
  3. Interactions between the Mediterranean world and Anglo-Saxon England
    Course start date:  Fri 6 Dec 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Stephen Pollington
    This talk will explore some of the connections which maintained the Anglo-Saxons' feeling that Rome was part of their heritage.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00
  4. Friday lates: Art and alchemy – from the ancient to today
    Course start date:  Fri 24 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Christopher Collier
    Delve into a magical world of hidden secrets and bizarre symbolism as we distil the heady mix that is art and alchemy; from early manuscripts and renaissance paintings, to the surrealists and contemporary art.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
  5. Friday lates: Contemporary art in China – over the Great Firewall
    Course start date:  Fri 14 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Meitao Qu
    Learn about the art of contemporary China from the end of the Cultural Revolution to today. This introductory session explores the social, political and cultural conditions of Chinese society through the lens of art and visual culture.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
  6. Lunchtime lecture: Artist's love letters, drawing intimacy
    Course start date:  Fri 14 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Sarah Jaffray
    From sexual desire to platonic admiration, text paired with image can make for potent exchanges. This lecture explores letters from Renaissance artists to the Surrealists to consider if correspondence can be art and what are the ethical implications of reading something meant for intimate exchange.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £7.00
  7. Friday lates: Pacific portraits - British artists, Pacific sitters and their impact on 18th century portraiture
    Evening
    Course start date:  Fri 21 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Ben Pollitt
    From Joshua Reynold's portrait of Omai to portraits made during the voyages of Captain James Cook, discover how encounters with Pacific Islanders changed the course of British eighteenth-century.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
  8. Friday lates: Homer in art
    Course start date:  Fri 7 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Julia Musgrave
    When Homer’s ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’ were rediscovered in the renaissance they went on to inspire artists from the mid-fifteenth century to the present day. We explore how artists through the centuries have used the stories as a literary source and consider how their approach to them has changed over time.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
  9. Micro-memoir: a taster
    Evening
    Course start date:  Fri 15 Nov 2024 (and 2 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Julie Garton
    A life is measured in moments as well as momentous occasions. This fun day workshop coaches students in the art of micro-memoir. Can you write about an instant that changed you in fewer than 200 words?



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  10. Friday lates: Women of Surrealism, convulsive beauties
    Course start date:  Fri 14 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Sarah Jaffray
    Learn how and why the surrealists re-defined beauty. Understand how the historical context of war and psychoanalysis inspired them to challenge conceptions of 'normalcy' and how it planted seeds for feminist artists to visualise bodies in untraditional ways.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
  11. Friday lates: Art and maps
    Evening
    Course start date:  Fri 21 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Christopher Collier
    Maps have a long and fascinating history, yet it was really the 20th Century that saw them come alive as an artistic medium, as artists turned to them to explore their place in a disoriented world. Discover the many ways artists have worked with maps, from Surrealism through to Digital Media.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
    Rating:
    80% of 100
  12. Friday lates: Agnes Martin – pioneer, painter, icon
    Evening
    Course start date:  Fri 28 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Henry Martin
    This course examines the unconventional life and artworks of Agnes Martin (1912–2004), regarded as one of the great artists of the Twentieth Century. Topics covered include Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, LGBTQ artists, and the role of the biography in Art History.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
  13. Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
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