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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- The City of London: the Square Mile
Course start date: Wed 9 Oct 2024 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Hazel BakerExplore the City’s development from Roman and medieval times through to the Tudors and Stuarts. This course will consist of 8 guided walks starting with Roman London. Tutor Guide: Hazel Baker.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Writing from the Margins: Great Expectations, Jude the Obscure and MakeshiftCourse start date: Wed 9 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Fiona McCullochThis online course will introduce and discuss a selection of novels depicting British society from the Victorian period to the 1920s. This allows us to make links between literary texts and social context to consider how fiction might be influenced by and influencing the real world beyond its covers. As we explore each novel, we will consider the characters as outliers in relation to social pressures and stigmas, as perceived through these literary and social perspectives.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £129.00 - Understanding contemporary art: ideas and origins Course start date: Mon 14 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Christopher CollierEver wondered what's going on in the mind of contemporary artists? This course explores the ideas and historical background behind some of today’s most intriguing works, from Conceptualism and Video to Body Art and Installation.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Global arts of Africa Course start date: Tue 15 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Thomas BalfeThis course introduces major forms of African art in their regional and global contexts. It studies classical traditions of carving, metal casting, architecture and textile arts as well as twentieth-century and contemporary developments, including the work of photographers and conceptual artists.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £129.00 - Looking inside paintings Course start date: Wed 16 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Caroline RaeDiscover the secrets of the Old Masters and learn how they created their wonderful effects in this introductory course on painters and painting. We will consider the physical history and scientific examination of artworks in relation to aspects including forgeries, hidden paintings and conservation/ restoration.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00 - Sexuality, Colonialism and Law: is there a dark side to gay rights?Course start date: Tue 22 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Joshua HeppleNearly seventy countries still criminalise gay sex. Why is this? This course will attend to this question by examining the links between sexuality, colonialism and postcolonial gay rights.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £129.00 - Feminism in modern and contemporary art Course start date: Thu 24 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Irina ChkhaidzeDiscover important modern and contemporary artists whose work can be broadly linked to the feminist project. We will discuss the political and social contexts in which the artworks were created.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00 - Human Rights Law: Are human rights universal?Course start date: Thu 24 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Joshua HeppleThis course will serve as an introduction to human rights. Join to get a basic but solid understanding of human rights and how they work in practice.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Themes in British politics Course start date: Mon 28 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Christian SchneeWant to look beyond the personal politics and Brexit and explore current British politics? Join Dr. Christian Schnee to discuss British politics in our time.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - London's smaller art collections Course start date: Wed 30 Oct 2024 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Julie BarlowDiscover some of London’s fascinating smaller art collections and hidden art treasures on this gallery-based art history course.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Beyond the headlines: From exceptionalism to the rise of the Far-Right: Contemporary Issues in French politicsCourse start date: Thu 31 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Salome IetterThis course provides an introduction to key debates and developments in contemporary French politics, connecting Republicanism, the entrenchment of neoliberalism in the 1980s and the rise of the far-Right.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00 - Venetian art of the 15th-16th centuries: beauty, splendour and light Course start date: Tue 5 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberJoin us for a sumptuous celebration of sumptuous Venetian painting. Discover the painting of this elegant culture built on a fragile lagoon where sea and sky meet, and where light and mist collide.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - Still life in the history of art: opulence and fragility Course start date: Tue 5 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresStill-life paintings usually represent ordinary things, often small and arranged on an indoor surface, without human presence. Long regarded in western art as the lowliest subject or “genre”, one that only required technical skill rather than imagination, still lifes are now considered some of the most charming and best loved paintings and can contain intriguing meanings that repay close study.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - Art & memory: culture and politics in modern and contemporary art Course start date: Wed 6 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mark Stuart-SmithHow have artists since 1960 engaged with the recent history and memory of political conflict? What role have artists had in remembering a difficult or traumatic past? What are the connections between memory and national identity in their work?Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00 - Renaissance art: making, locating and viewing Course start date: Wed 6 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberThis course explores the Making, the Locating and the Viewing of Renaissance paintings in the collection of the National Gallery. This course takes place at the National Gallery.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00
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