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.
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- American Hitchcock double bill: Shadow of a Doubt and Notorious
Course start date: Sun 6 Oct 2024Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyDuring the 1940s Hitchcock found himself working with a range of Hollywood studios and producers on projects suited to his particular storytelling interests, with perhaps the two most successful and striking of these being the focus of this course. We will explore their production, structure and critical reception, while also noting significant differences between the two in terms of their tone.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Indigenous Australian art: an introduction Course start date: Wed 16 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Arjmand AhmadIndigenous Australian art has, in recent years, been increasingly exhibited and discussed in Britain. Yet little is known about the history and development of this art movement and the oeuvres of the artists responsible for its creation. This introductory course will provide a history of how Indigenous Australian artists have changed and challenged the course of national and international art fields in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Writing and rewriting fairytales Course start date: Tue 22 Oct 2024 (and 3 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.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - Mystery religionsCourse start date: Wed 30 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Ann JeffersMystery religions were very popular in the ancient world and were organised as voluntary associations. Their popularity is attested in writings and in material culture of the Greco-Roman world. They offered intense religious experiences outside the official, civic religions. The participants were initiated into the mysteries: whilst there is considerable variety in form and content, a belief in a form of salvation was a common denominator of many of these mystery religions. The question of the relationship between the mystery cults and Christianity will also be broached.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Mughal decorative arts: an introduction Course start date: Wed 13 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Arjmand AhmadExplore the splendour and technical sophistication of the decorative arts during the Mughal era (1526-1857) in South Asia in this introductory course.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Great works: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Course start date: Thu 14 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sophie OxenhamThis course explores Mary Shelley’s iconic novel, Frankenstein. We will consider the novel’s literary, socio-political, philosophical, and scientific contexts, alongside thinking about its narrative themes and techniques. We’ll also touch upon its rich ‘afterlife’, thinking about some of the ways the novel has been reimagined in later adaptations, and asking why this story continues to have such resonance today.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - The ghost story on the television and the big screenCourse start date: Sat 23 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyExplore and enjoy the ghost story through big screen classics such as The Uninvited (1944), The Innocents (1961) and The Haunting (1963), and small screen dramas such as The Stone Tape (1972) and the BBC's Ghost Story for Christmas tradition - for example, The Signalman (1976). We will also consider the genre's key themes and storytelling styles along with its relationship with horror generally.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Makers not muses: Claude Cahun, Eileen Agar and Isabel Rawsthorne Course start date: Fri 29 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chantal CondronExplore the work of three radical artists whose work and practice defied convention in modern art from the 1920s to 1960s. Discover how each artist challenged and transcended society’s expectations of being a ‘muse’ by living freely and making art in a variety of media, from painting and sculpture to collage, photography and performance. - How to get an agent Course start date: Sat 7 Dec 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sophie McKenzieThis intensive workshop offers students insider, need-to-know information on securing a literary agent.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - The Courtauld: an introduction Course start date: Mon 13 Jan 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Julie BarlowThe Courtauld collection includes paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and decorative arts, ranging from the medieval period to the present day. This two-part course is an opportunity to explore an outstanding collection which includes one of the richest holdings of early Italian art in Britain alongside Impressionist and Post-Impressionist gems such as Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - The Renaissance at home in the V&ACourse start date: Tue 14 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Lydia GoodsonStep into the Italian Renaissance home in this three- part course taught in the unrivalled collection of Renaissance objects in the V&A. Discover how furnishings, paintings and objects were made and used in the fashionable homes of Renaissance Italy.Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £64.00 - Great works: Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady Course start date: Thu 23 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sophie OxenhamThis short literature course will explore Henry James’s novel ‘A Portrait of a Lady’ (1881). We will consider James’s narrative methods and concerns, and also engage with contextual and critical material to inform our reading.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - From late Silent to early Sound cinema Course start date: Sat 25 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyWith films such as Metropolis (1927) and Sunrise (1927) many critics felt that silent cinema had attained a level of sophistication that could not be surpassed by the 'talkies', but the imaginative use of sound and dialogue, in, for example, Blackmail (1929) and M (1931), could not be denied. Explore this exciting, transitional moment in cinema through these and other key films of the period.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Partition in Palestine Course start date: Thu 30 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Martin JorgensenPalestine has a long history. Join us in this short course to explore the most recent Palestinian history from the late Ottoman era through the British Mandate era and Al-Nakba to our own moment.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £51.00 - Focus on: Dürer Course start date: Sun 2 Feb 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Leslie PrimoExplore the life, works, and legacy of one of the most innovative German artists of his time: Albrecht Dürer. See how he assimilated the art of Venice into his style and exploited the possibilities of print.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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