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.
- Tolkien on ScreenCourse start date: Mon 15 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Online
In his literary essay On Fairy Stories, J.R.R. Tolkien famously wrote that “in human art, fantasy is a thing best left to words”. Despite this claim, The Lord of the Rings is arguably one of the most profitable media franchises of the 21st century. It has inspired academy-award winning films and record-breaking TV series, and continues to generate material that resonates with new generations of fans to explore. This course will explore the history of adapting Tolkien to the cinema, considering not only what was altered or left behind in attempts to turn Tolkien’s vast mythology into the stuff of popular cinema, but what might also have been enhanced as a result.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00 - Introduction to moral philosophyCourse start date: Tue 16 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ariel KernbergWhat’s the right thing to do? But what does ‘right’ actually mean? And what reason do I have to do it? Join us as we grapple with these fundamental questions. NB: No class on Tues 28th October.Full fee £279.00 Senior fee £223.00 Concession £181.00 - Cultureplex Ciné-Club: The Films of David CronenbergCourse start date: Tue 16 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Katie GossOver six weeks, this Ciné Club will dive into the singular, unsettling world of David Cronenberg - one of modern cinema’s most provocative and visionary directors.
We will explore Cronenberg’s evolution from early body horror classics to his later psychological thrillers, questioning what his work reveals about human nature and our ever-evolving relationship with the body, technology and culture.
Each session will feature a screening of a key film from his filmography, followed by an in-depth discussion examining its central themes, cinematic techniques, cultural and cinematic impact. From the merging of flesh and technoscientific apparatus, to the themes of obsession and transgression, we will see how Cronenberg’s cinema helps us explore the complexities and obscurities of modern life.
Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £155.00 - Beyond the headlines: Left populism and socialism todayCourse start date: Wed 17 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Salome IetterThis course will provide an overview of the politics of ‘Left populism’ in their historical perspective and contemporary manifestations as well as in their relation to socialist politics.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £51.00 - Exploring British cinemaCourse start date: Wed 17 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyDefining itself around themes such as realism, class and national identity, and differentiating itself from Hollywood and other national cinemas, British cinema has found critical and popular acclaim both domestically and internationally. This course explores key themes and developments in British cinema, past and present, through a range of films, filmmakers and critical concepts and responses.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £84.00 - British Cinema: The Whole StoryCourse start date: Mon 22 Sep 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John WischmeyerThis course will take you on a journey through the development of British Cinema from its earliest films through to some of its most recent. We will explore some of the most significant periods of British filmmaking creativity and commercial enterprise and consider some of the famous names associated with it. Join me in City Lit’s Cultureplex as I tell – through image and sound – the whole story of British Cinema.Full fee £309.00 Senior fee £247.00 Concession £201.00 - City Lit evening reading groupCourse start date: Mon 22 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Claire AllenShare thoughts and ideas about what you are reading, with books chosen by the group. Please come to the first session with suggestions (contemporary literary fiction in paperback) and having read 'The Wren, The Wren' by Anne Enright. We meet on the following dates: 22/9, 20/10, 24/11, 12/1, 16/2, 16/3, 11/5, 8/6, 6/7.Full fee £189.00 Senior fee £189.00 Concession £123.00 - British Literature of the 1930s: Brits AbroadCourse start date: Tue 23 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lewis WardOn this in-college literature course we will explore what some of the most significant British authors of the period did and thought on their travels, real and imagined, in the decade leading up to World War II. Authors include Graham Greene, Christopher Isherwood, Jean Rhys and George Orwell.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00 - Global finance: a brief introduction
Course start date: Tue 23 Sep 2025Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Caglar EzikogluExplore the essentials of global finance, learning about international markets, exchange rates, and financial instruments. Gain a foundational understanding of global economic dynamics.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £84.00 - Writing fantasy stories Course start date: Wed 30 Apr 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Victoria M. AdamsBuild fantastical worlds, fill them with compelling characters and learn how to structure innovative plotlines in this perfect introduction for those with a passion for fantasy.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £249.00 Concession £125.00 - Cultureplex Ciné-Club: women directors and their wonderlands Course start date: Wed 24 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Katie GossCome and join us at the Cultureplex Ciné-Club: Women directors and their Wonderlands, where you will have the opportunity to view and discuss the work of innovative female filmmakers whose work generates dazzling visions of alternative modes of living and spectatorship. A development from our existing Cultureplex Ciné-Club courses and taking its cue from the famous Parisian Ciné-club set up by the celebrated critic and writer, André Bazin, this incarnation of the film club will allow for the viewing of a different film each week, followed by detailed discussion and debate. The film will be introduced, and placed in both its cinematic, cultural and historic context. In sharing our viewing in City Lit’s premier screening room, the Cultureplex, we will approximate the experience of watching film in the cinema, one that is intense and fully focussed in a way that other modes of viewing often are not. After the screening we will devote the rest of the class to a collective exploration of the film, led by the tutor, but involving everyone in a participatory discussion that will allow all to express their responses, their views, their thoughts on the film screened.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £155.00 - Ways into playwriting Course start date: Wed 30 Apr 2025 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Nicole AcquahExplore the fundamental techniques of writing for the stage in this introductory course. Get to grips with dialogue, character, story and structure, and start work on your own play.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £120.00 - Global History Friday Late: From Feudal Isolation to a Modern Nation-State: an introduction to Japan’s Meiji Restoration period (1868 – 1889)Course start date: Fri 26 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Dale Mineshima-LoweJoin Dr. Dale Mineshima-Lowe for a brief introductory history of Japan’s Meiji Restoration period (1868-1889) - an important turning point that helped to shape modern Japan.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - Friday lates: the art of satire - Brueghel and HogarthCourse start date: Fri 26 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayWhy laugh in a time turmoil? Explore how artists Pieter Brueghel the Elder and William Hogarth reflected on the hypocrisy of their times with scathing satire. Reflect on how studying historic comedy might shift our perspectives on the value of humour, past and present.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £19.00 - Film and Philosophy: Thinking through CinemaCourse start date: Fri 26 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Is The Matrix a science-fiction movie starring Keanu Reeves, or the most influential work of philosophy of the last fifty years? Who is more nihilistic, Humphrey Bogart or Frederic Nietszche? In this course, we will examine the relationship between film and philosophy, engaging with current debates in film theory and in wider society. We will consider whether it is appropriate to label film as a form of philosophy, how film acts as philosophy, and the ways in which our experiences of watching film helps up to think through ideas about the human experience that have received attention amongst centuries of philosophical literature. Is film merely entertainment, or is it our most important form of philosophy?Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00
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