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.
- How to read a film: a beginners' guide to cinema
Course start date: Mon 12 May 2025 (and 2 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Paul SuttonThis course will develop your critical appreciation of the cinema by teaching you how to read and understand film texts. We will look at the elements that underpin film form – narrative, mise en scène, cinematography, editing and sound – alongside its historical development. We will consider film style by exploring classical, post-classical and art cinema and we will examine influential critical modes of analysis, such as genre, authorship and spectatorship.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - Autobiography into fiction: getting started Course start date: Sat 31 May 2025 (and 4 other dates)
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 £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - Creative writing: getting started Course start date: Sat 7 Jun 2025 (and 8 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Deborah MartinGive creative writing a try on this fun and supportive online 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. Please note: this course includes a 1-hr break.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - Create your first poetry collection Course start date: Sat 7 Jun 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
You've written and workshopped your poetry, and now you're ready to create your first collection. But where do you begin with that process? This workshop offers instruction and advice on putting together your first poetry collection.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - Film studies taster Course start date: Sat 13 Sep 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Paul SuttonLearn how to evaluate and discuss films while enjoying a working example of a City Lit Film Studies class. In this class we will view and explore clips from a number of films, including popular remakes, enabling us to consider and compare themes and techniques from differing filmmaking countries. There will be a chance to review – in brief – film courses at City Lit (September - December 2025).Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Global encounters: meet the MongolsCourse start date: Mon 3 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Vanessa KingAt its height the Mongol empire stretched from the Sea of Japan to eastern Europe. We explore how the Mongols interacted with the nations they conquered.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - Global Encounters: The Later Crusades, 1209-1500Course start date: Tue 4 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Vanessa KingThe loss of Jerusalem saw a shift in Crusading strategy. Going on crusade became a seasonal event, first against the Cathars in France and then with the Knights Hospitaller against pagans in the Baltic.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Image and identity: 20th century Chinese art and cinema Course start date: Wed 5 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Meitao QuExplore the work of Chinese artists and filmmakers between the turn of the 20th century to the turn of the 21st as they try to make sense of a world caught on the cusp between the old and the new. What place did art and cinema have in socio-political movements, and how did visual culture reflect the hopes and anxieties of the time?Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - 20th to 21st Century War Poetry: British and InternationalCourse start date: Thu 6 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Stephen WinfieldExplore the astonishing range of poetic responses to a hundred years of warfare, acts of witnessing, endurance, defiance and condemnation by writers across the globe: Sassoon and Wilfred Owen in Britain, Brecht, Milosz, Celan, Akhmatova and Stepanova in Europe and Russia, Darwish and Zhadan in the Middle East and Ukraine, and many others. How do they describe the indescribable? High art or doggerel, what does it matter once the bombs start to fall?Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £84.00 - The life and times of King Charles ICourse start date: Fri 7 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: William SterlingFamous as the only British king to be executed, Charles should also be remembered as the greatest patron of the arts who sat on our throne.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Realism and Genre: British Cinema in the 1960sCourse start date: Sat 22 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyDuring the 1960s British cinema re-established itself as a leading producer of films, including realist dramas such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), and action and adventure fantasies with the highly popular James Bond films. This course explores these developments through a range of critical approaches and considers the way in which they contributed to a revitalised British cinema.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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