Culture, history & humanities - Keeley Street

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.

Filters

Items 1-15 of 31

Page
per page
  1. The beauty of the medieval manuscript
    Course start date:  Wed 20 Nov 2024 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Emma Rose Barber
    It is generally accepted that medieval illuminated manuscripts are very beautiful things. Something to do with all that gold-leaf maybe. While we cannot hold them in class, close-up digital reproduction will allow us to see if they really are as beautiful as we are told. Indeed, are none of them ugly? Join this course to find out.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
  2. Ancient Rome: art & architecture
    Course start date:  Tue 7 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Richard Plant
    The ancient Rome Empire has provided a model for artistic and particularly architectural production in nearly all the centuries since its fall. We will study the development of Roman architecture and explore works of art in the best-preserved media; sculpture, painting and mosaics. Two sessions take place at the British Museum.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
  3. Introduction to art history
    Course start date:  Mon 13 Jan 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Sarah Jaffray
    Are you interested in art and want to get more out of looking at art and exhibitions? Want to know what an art historian does? Develop your interpretative skills by exploring at how art is made and what social and cultural factors construct our understanding of it.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
    Rating:
    99% of 100
  4. Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt (part 2): The end of his reign & its sequel
    Course start date:  Tue 14 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Michael Duigan
    The final years of the reign of Akhenaten, the gathering storm and tragedy which ended the ‘dream’ of Amarna.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
  5. The Golden Age of the British Short Story: 1890-1914
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Tue 14 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Julian Birkett
    The years 1890 to 1914 were a golden age for British writers of short stories. As the country moved from Victorian certainties to an unknown, possibly exciting, possibly frightening future, writers found the short story form perfectly suited to their concerns. The roll call is an impressive one: from Kipling, Hardy, HG Wells and Conan Doyle through Chesterton and Conrad to Katherine Mansfield and DH Lawrence.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
  6. Full fee £259.00 Senior fee £259.00 Concession £168.00
  7. Imposters, Fakes and Hoaxes in Fiction
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 21 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Kate Wilkinson
    Why assume a false identity? What could be the risks and rewards of pretending to be someone else? And what can fictions about ‘faking it’ tell us about ourselves, what we believe, and why? This literature course takes a deep dive into remarkable stories of impersonation and identity: psychiatric intrigue in Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Case Study; Patricia Highsmith’s classic thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley; a New York art controversy in Siri Hustvedt’s The Blazing World; and a notorious Victorian trial in Zadie Smith’s The Fraud.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00
  8. First Poets of the Modern City: Baudelaire, Whitman, Laforgue, Eliot
    Course start date:  Tue 28 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Laurie Smith
    We explore how Baudelaire, Whitman, Laforgue and Eliot were the first poets to express in detail both the exciting



    opportunities and the emotional and spiritual damage of life in the modern city. We will look in particular how Baudelaire’s poems and Laforgue’s translations of Whitman into French influenced Eliot’s early poetry, culminating in The Waste Land (1922).
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
  9. Masterpieces of World Literature
    Course start date:  Tue 28 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Rebecca Jones
    Come and join us for a fascinating introduction to texts often considered ‘masterpieces’ of world literature, as we read texts from across centuries, languages and national borders, both within and beyond the English-speaking world. Reading major authors such as Miguel de Cervantes, Chinua Achebe, Toni Morrison and Arundhati Roy, amongst others, you’ll leave the course with a new appreciation and understanding of the world’s rich literary heritage in all its diversity and complexity.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00
Page
per page

Can't see a course you want?

Add this category to your waiting list to set up alerts and we will update you when new courses are released online.

Add me to waiting list