History, culture & writing - Keeley Street

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.

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.

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  1. A history of global capitalism
    Course start date:  Wed 17 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Vina Theodorakopoulou
    Want to understand the history of global capitalism. Join Dr. Vina Theodorakopoulou to learn about the historical transitions towards what we know as capitalism today – evolution of capital, the role of the state, labour, competition, race, and innovation-automation.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00
  2. The History of the Irish short story: from early Joyce to Claire Keegan
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Tue 23 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Richard Niland
    The short story has come to be seen as one of Irish Literature’s most celebrated forms of expression. From the early stories of George Moore and James Joyce, to modern classics by John McGahern, William Trevor and Claire Keegan, the short story has allowed Irish writers to pick apart the complexities of Irish society in powerful, precise and poetic terms. This course will explore some of the most iconic short stories of twentieth-century Irish literature.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00
  3. Hell, Heaven and Purgatory in the Middle Ages
    Course start date:  Tue 23 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Emma Rose Barber
    Why were images to do with the afterlife so prevalent in the Middle Ages? Come, face your eternal destinies and look at images such as the Last Judgement, skeletons, filthy flesh, worms, ghosts and Hell mouths.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
  4. Writing for magazines
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024 (and 5 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Susan Grossman
    Get inspired to write on this practical course for freelance journalists and bloggers. Learn to carry out research, interview people, pitch and publish stories, and build your presence on social media.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £70.00
    Rating:
    98% of 100
  5. Tales from everywhere: international fictions from the 20th century
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Aamer Hussein
    Join us to read and discuss a selection of novels from the 1950s and 1960, in English and in translation, some of which, like Stan Barstow’s powerful story of upward mobility A Kind of Loving and Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s poignant portrait of unrest in Kenya Weep Not, My Child, have rarely been out of print. Some are recent rediscoveries, such as Han Suyin’s story of forbidden romance in wartime London, Winter Love, and Chingiz Aitmatov’s delicate Kyrgyz fable, Jamilia. Fresh translations of Magda Szabo’s Iza’s Ballad and Tove Ditlevsen’s autobiographical coming of age story,Youth, are also included.



    NB. This course will have a break week on Wednesday 29 May.
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
  6. A day in the life of the everyday: the twentieth century circadian novel: Mrs. Dalloway, One Fine Day, The Hours
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Fri 26 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Jenny Stevens
    Novels that fit all their action into just one day (‘circadian novels’) have been penned by some of literature’s most esteemed authors. This course focuses on three novels which use the one-day structure to tell their stories: Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (1925), Mollie Pater-Downes’s One Fine Day (1947), and Michael Cunningham’s The Hours (1999). It explores how they portray the inner life of characters, at the same time as engaging with broader social issues of the time.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00
  7. Italian cinema: from Neorealism to the genre film
    Evening
    Course start date:  Fri 26 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Cristina Massaccesi
    This cinema course focuses on Italian cinema in the years between 1945 and 1980. It will provide you with an overview of the main historical, cultural and social aspects of Italian filmmaking in Italy by looking at the work of some of its most influential author/directors.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00
  8. Visionary experiments: American art of the 1940s and 50s
    Course start date:  Fri 26 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Sarah Jaffray
    Explore American art during and just after World War II. From abstraction expressionism to social justice in photography and printmaking see how the US's unique context created the foundation for experimental and transgressive art.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
  9. Homes, houses and art in Europe: 1900-1960
    Course start date:  Tue 30 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Emma Rose Barber
    Knock on the door of artists’ houses and studios from 1900-1960 to experience exciting and visually dazzling spaces created over the course of their careers. At a time when artists were beginning to forge their own brave new visual worlds, this course considers what the homes might tell us about the artists and how they wanted their homes to be seen. This is the second part of a series on Homes and Houses; it can also be taken without having done the previous course.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
  10. French and Russian literature
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Tue 30 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Richard Niland
    Explore classic texts of 19th century French and Russian literature, discussing literary style, themes, and contexts as a way of developing and sharing responses to celebrated European writing. Among the French writers examined will be Stendhal, Baudelaire, Flaubert and Rimbaud, with our Russians including Pushkin, Lemontov, and Tolstoy.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00
  11. British literature of the 1980s: the Granta generation
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 30 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Lewis Ward
    Who were considered the ‘Best of Young British Novelists’ in 1983, and what became of them? What do their styles and topics reveal about the decade, looking back from 40 years on? Read extracts by all twenty writers plus novels by Pat Barker, Graham Swift and Julian Barnes.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00
  12. Tutankhamun unveiled
    Course start date:  Tue 30 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Rosalind Janssen
    The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 caused a worldwide sensation, which led to a bout of ‘Tut-mania’. Much overlooked is the political setting: Egypt’s semi-independence from British rule that occurred in the same year. But who was Tutankhamun: how did he live and die? This course unveils the Pharaoh, his wardrobe, curse, blockbuster exhibitions, and enduring legacy.
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
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