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 mirror of nature: art and culture in the 17th century
Course start date: Fri 9 May 2025Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Leslie PrimoThe 17th century produced some of the greatest artists of all time: Rubens, Rembrandt, Velazquez and Bernini to name but a few. Explore the work of these key artists and understand the history, styles and ideas that shaped the century.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: part 2Course start date: Fri 9 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Hugo CookFollow-on course from the Introduction. This four-week course uses British Museum objects related to ancient Egypt to broaden and deepen students' knowledge of Egyptian Hieroglyphs. The course will be held in Covent Garden, with frequent visits to the British Museum.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Women in ancient RomeCourse start date: Fri 9 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: William SterlingWomen's position in the Ancient Roman world was important as they played important roles in the home, in business, in religion and even in politics. - Art in Britain since 2000: where are we now?Course start date: Fri 9 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chantal CondronDiscover how exciting, new UK-based artists use both experimental and traditional approaches to art to address issues of identity, history and personal experience. - Philosophy and cultural theoryCourse start date: Fri 9 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Barrie SelwynMerleau Ponty’s concept of embodied subjectivity continues to shape our views in cultural theory and theories of knowledge in general. We will explore his ideas and their applications as well as the general context from which they emerge. - Ways of reading: aspects of narrative theoryCourse start date: Fri 16 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Jenny StevensWhat do we mean by ‘literary fiction’? What expectations do we bring to the novels we read? Do we really ‘escape’ when we enter fictional worlds? These are just some of the questions addressed in a course which focuses on the analysis of prose fiction. Reading texts as short as one-sentence ‘flash fiction’ to complete short stories, it engages with writing from a wide range of periods and authors, paying close attention to narrative techniques and their effects. - The Legacies of the empire in conflicts in West and Central Africa after IndependenceCourse start date: Fri 16 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sunday Abraham OgunodeJoin us to explore the legacies of empire in conflicts in West and Cental Africa.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00 - Apocalypse London: the city in dystopian fiction - 1880-1974Course start date: Fri 16 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah WiseExplore representations of London in works of dystopian/science fiction, written between the 1890s and the 1970s. Our authors will include HG Wells, John Wyndham, George Orwell and Nigel Kneale.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00 - Ways into creative writing: intensive Course start date: Fri 31 Oct 2025 (and 9 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lucy PopescuNot sure whether creative writing is for you? Give it a try on one of these fun and supportive short courses covering the basics of fiction and poetry. Increase your confidence and produce work through guided exercises and discussion.Full fee £159.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £80.00 - Philosophy and cinemaCourse start date: Fri 30 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Daniel WeizmanWe explore the intersection of film and philosophy, engaging with the works of influential thinkers and film makers. Together, we discover how cinema opens new possibilities to examine enduring philosophical questions concerning the mind, reality, identity, and ideology.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - Ways into creative writing: a gentle paceCourse start date: Fri 26 Sep 2025 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Henry MartinAre you brand new to creative writing? Do you want to build your confidence in a supportive environment alongside other beginners? This gentle short-course guides students taking their first steps on the path to becoming a creative writer.Full fee £159.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £80.00 - Poets of the Silver Age, the Revolution and the TerrorCourse start date: Fri 13 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Stephen WinfieldThis course will look, decade by decade, at the leading figures of the generation caught up in the turmoil of the Revolution whose lives and poetry together form a veritable seismograph of the unfolding tragedy. Their extraordinary interrelationships and the originality and power of their writing constitute one of the richest periods in the history of Russian Literature.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00 - Refugee Week at City Lit: the refugee figure in the 20th centuryCourse start date: Fri 20 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Martin JorgensenJoin us to explore the changes in the figure of the refugee as events made people who become refugees a figure in global politics over the course of the 20th century as part of Refugee Week at City Lit.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £8.00 Concession £7.00 - Introduction to criminology: thinking about crime and justiceCourse start date: Fri 7 Nov 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Join our journey, examining sociological and criminological theories of crime, deviance and the criminal justice system. Examine how these how these perspectives have premeditated everyday views of crime and criminality.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £111.00 Concession £90.00 - Christopher and his Kind: Christopher Isherwood in BerlinCourse start date: Fri 27 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Jake PollerThe experience of living in Berlin in the early 1930s had a transformative effect on the life and work of Christopher Isherwood. In this course, we will discuss Isherwood’s masterpiece, Goodbye to Berlin (1939), and his autobiography Christopher and His Kind (1976), which reveals the real people behind the characters of Sally Bowles and Otto Nowak, and shines a light on the queer culture of Berlin Isherwood was unable to write about in the 1930s.Full fee £49.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £32.00
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