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.
- Being and empathy: the philosophy of Edith SteinCourse start date: Sat 3 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John GoffThis course aims to make Stein’s thought more familiar by examining her contribution to a philosophical-phenomenological understanding of faith and religion.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - German Expressionism: From Horror to Film NoirCourse start date: Sat 3 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John WischmeyerGerman Expressionism influenced Hollywood horror after itself being influenced by early Swedish Nordic noir. Along with F.W. Murnau and Robert Wiene, Fritz Lang was one of the key figures of German Expressionist cinema. Their influence crossed borders and is alive today in cinema tropes, camera techniques and narrative themes still used by filmmakers, game designers and artists. Their films changed moviemaking forever as directors and set designers created a nightmare environment of unnatural perspectives and distorted images in early films such as Nosferatu (1922 F.W. Murnau), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919 Robert Weine), and Metropolis (1927 Fritz Lang) which led to Dracula (1931 Tod Browning), Spellbound (1945 Alfred Hitchcock) and Blade Runner (1982 Ridley Scott). American pulp fiction shaded this into film noir in The Killers (1946 Robert Siodmak) and Double Indemnity (1944 Billy Wilder), films created by directors who had fled the land of German Expression. It had come full circle.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Autobiography into fiction: a taster
Course start date: Sat 3 Jun 2023 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Nick BarlayLearn how to turn real-life experiences into gripping fiction in this fun short course for fiction writing beginners and experienced writers. Develop your writing skills and explore techniques for transforming personal stories into strong narratives.Full fee £69.00 - Performance poetry Course start date: Sat 10 Jun 2023 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Megan BeechWrite poetry and perform it, finding your own style and delivery under the guidance of a spoken word artist. Explore the differences between performance and other forms of poetry.Full fee £69.00 - The lost town of Lundenwic: mid-Saxon London 600-900 CECourse start date: Sat 10 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Stuart BrookesLook at the least known episodes in London's history, Lundenwic (AD 600-900) and Lundenburh (AD 900-1000).
Includes an introductory lecture and a guided walk.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - The Aztecs Course start date: Sat 10 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Max CarocciDiscover one of the great New World civilisations and their achievements - the Aztecs of Mexico.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Dickens' London Course start date: Sat 10 Jun 2023 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Molly Rumbelow'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.' Enjoy this introduction to Dickens' work and the London of his time. Morning lecture at City Lit followed by a walk in the area of the city connected to his work.Full fee £59.00 - A taste of creative writing Course start date: Sat 1 Jul 2023 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Vicky GrutGive creative writing a try on this fun and supportive short course. Ideal if you want to express yourself but need help in getting started. Guided exercises will encourage you to experiment and unlock your imagination.Full fee £69.00 - Up close and personal with Greek archaeological treasuresCourse start date: Sat 17 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Anke MarshDiscover stunning objects from ancient Greece and the evidence they provide for the lives of ancient people. Spend the afternoon having a close look at the British Museum's collection.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Book blogging and reviewing Course start date: Sat 17 Jun 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lisa GollWant to write about books? This short course will get you started on you path to becoming a book reviewer or blogger.Full fee £69.00 - Not drowning but waving: Edith Sitwell, Stevie Smith and Lorraine MarinerCourse start date: Sat 17 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Laurie SmithWe explore poems written by three highly original English women poets. Their styles of writing are unique as they respond to the stresses of their lives, and to their position as women, with wit and humour. Their resilience shows them as the reverse of Smith’s famous line ‘Not waving but drowning’.Full fee £69.00 - Art of Islamic SpainCourse start date: Sat 24 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Roberta MarinDiscover the art and architecture of Spain during the Arab domination (711-1493).Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Focus on: 19th-century fashion Course start date: Sat 24 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the relationship between nineteenth-century society, from the Napoleonic era to the suffrage movement, and men’s and women’s fashions which witnessed constant change, restrictions, extremes and the start of the dress reform movement.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Focus on: 20th-century fashion
Course start date: Sat 1 Jul 2023Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the ever-changing statement of identity that was twentieth-century fashion through the study of key designers and significant social and political events that shaped the clothes we wore.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - The compulsion to repeat in cinema: From Groundhog Day to MementoCourse start date: Sat 1 Jul 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Paul SuttonThere are a surprising number of films that make use of repetition as a motif or as a structuring device for their narratives. Two particularly celebrated examples are Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis 1993 US) and Memento (Christopher Nolan 2000 UK/US). This course will explore this phenomenon, by referencing psychoanalytic film theory and the idea of the repetition compulsion, but also through the detailed analysis of both of these films.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00
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