History, culture & writing - BFI Southbank - Keeley Street

Explore History, Culture & Writing

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. Writing for magazines
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024 (and 5 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Susan Grossman
    Get inspired to write on this practical course for freelance journalists and bloggers. Learn to carry out research, interview people, pitch and publish stories, and build your presence on social media.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £70.00
    Rating:
    98% of 100
  2. Tales from everywhere: international fictions from the 20th century
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Aamer Hussein
    Join us to read and discuss a selection of novels from the 1950s and 1960, in English and in translation, some of which, like Stan Barstow’s powerful story of upward mobility A Kind of Loving and Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s poignant portrait of unrest in Kenya Weep Not, My Child, have rarely been out of print. Some are recent rediscoveries, such as Han Suyin’s story of forbidden romance in wartime London, Winter Love, and Chingiz Aitmatov’s delicate Kyrgyz fable, Jamilia. Fresh translations of Magda Szabo’s Iza’s Ballad and Tove Ditlevsen’s autobiographical coming of age story,Youth, are also included.



    NB. This course will have a break week on Wednesday 29 May.
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
  3. African philosophy
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Ovett Nwosimiri
    This course is an introduction to African philosophy. We will analyse the various positions and contestations regarding the nature, and trends in African philosophy, debate on communitarianism and personhood, African ethics, ubuntu, and decolonisation of knowledge.
    Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00
  4. Irish history and identity 5: American and European Influences in the Modern Era
    Course start date:  Thu 25 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Colm Hickey
    Although inextricably linked to Britain, Ireland’s history, identity, and nationhood has equally been shaped by its relationship with Europe. This course traces Ireland’s the influence of European and American



    politics.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00
  5. The merry monarch: Charles II & the Restoration era
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Thu 25 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Ellen Carpenter
    Join us for a six-week course to explore politics, society, religion and culture during the Stuart Restoration era, with reference to the reign of the ‘Merry Monarch’ Charles II (1660 – 1685) and the succession crisis that followed his death in 1685.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00
  6. Italian cinema: from Neorealism to the genre film
    Evening
    Course start date:  Fri 26 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Cristina Massaccesi
    This cinema course focuses on Italian cinema in the years between 1945 and 1980. It will provide you with an overview of the main historical, cultural and social aspects of Italian filmmaking in Italy by looking at the work of some of its most influential author/directors.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00
  7. A day in the life of the everyday: the twentieth century circadian novel: Mrs. Dalloway, One Fine Day, The Hours
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Fri 26 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Jenny Stevens
    Novels that fit all their action into just one day (‘circadian novels’) have been penned by some of literature’s most esteemed authors. This course focuses on three novels which use the one-day structure to tell their stories: Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (1925), Mollie Pater-Downes’s One Fine Day (1947), and Michael Cunningham’s The Hours (1999). It explores how they portray the inner life of characters, at the same time as engaging with broader social issues of the time.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00
  8. Visionary experiments: American art of the 1940s and 50s
    Course start date:  Fri 26 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Sarah Jaffray
    Explore American art during and just after World War II. From abstraction expressionism to social justice in photography and printmaking see how the US's unique context created the foundation for experimental and transgressive art.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
  9. Discovering Late Imperial China: Ming to Qing, 1500-1800
    Course start date:  Tue 30 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Qiuyang Chen
    Journey into the heart of China's transformative era, where dynastic intrigue met daily life's rich fabric. Grasp the complexities of power, ethnic interplay, and innovation in an age of change in Late Imperial China.
    Full fee £89.00 Senior fee £71.00 Concession £58.00
  10. Ancient Greek drama: an introduction
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Tue 30 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Maria Contos
    Have a taste of exploring the ancient Athenian stage, and how they still speak to us about the challenges we face today.
    Full fee £109.00 Senior fee £87.00 Concession £71.00
  11. The occult on screen
    Course start date:  Tue 30 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Gillian McIver
    Surprisingly, not every film that features the occult is a horror film. Certainly, many of them are; we will consider classics such as Haxan from 1922, Rosemary’s Baby, The Craft, Angel Heart, The Witch and Hereditary. Other films, such as Kenneth Anger's Lucifer Rising and A Dark Song, attempt to treat the occult seriously as secret or hidden knowledge. We'll examine the cultural backdrop of occult films and questions of representation, gender relations, and spirituality.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00
  12. Homes, houses and art in Europe: 1900-1960
    Course start date:  Tue 30 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Emma Rose Barber
    Knock on the door of artists’ houses and studios from 1900-1960 to experience exciting and visually dazzling spaces created over the course of their careers. At a time when artists were beginning to forge their own brave new visual worlds, this course considers what the homes might tell us about the artists and how they wanted their homes to be seen. This is the second part of a series on Homes and Houses; it can also be taken without having done the previous course.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
  13. Tutankhamun unveiled
    Course start date:  Tue 30 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Rosalind Janssen
    The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 caused a worldwide sensation, which led to a bout of ‘Tut-mania’. Much overlooked is the political setting: Egypt’s semi-independence from British rule that occurred in the same year. But who was Tutankhamun: how did he live and die? This course unveils the Pharaoh, his wardrobe, curse, blockbuster exhibitions, and enduring legacy.
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
  14. French and Russian literature
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Tue 30 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Richard Niland
    Explore classic texts of 19th century French and Russian literature, discussing literary style, themes, and contexts as a way of developing and sharing responses to celebrated European writing. Among the French writers examined will be Stendhal, Baudelaire, Flaubert and Rimbaud, with our Russians including Pushkin, Lemontov, and Tolstoy.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00
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