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.
Filters
- Reading fairytales: happy every after?Course start date: Wed 11 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Fiona McCullochReading a selection of classic fairy tales, we will explore how fairy tales evolve by reading different versions, including ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, ‘Snow White’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Hansel and Gretel’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and ‘Bluebeard’, investigating how fairy tales evolve by reading different versions,.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00 - Avant-garde women: art innovations of the 20th & 21st centuries
Course start date: Thu 12 Oct 2023Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Irina ChkhaidzeDiscover the work of prominent modern and contemporary women artists from the early twentieth century to the present, looking at the political and social transformations reflected in the artworks.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £179.00 - Spanish Art 1900-1937: the age of Picasso, Miró and Dalí Course start date: Wed 1 Nov 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Mark Stuart-SmithReflecting a 'silver age' of literature, art in Spain before the Civil war encompasses the modernist genius of Picasso, Juan Gris and Miró; the surrealism of Dalí and the late Impressionism of Joaquín Sorolla.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00 - The art and cinema of 20th century Spain: from Picasso to AlmodóvarCourse start date: Wed 17 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Mark Stuart-SmithExplore the development of Spanish art from Picasso’s 1937 'Guernica' to the installations of Juan Muñoz in the 1980s and 1990s. We will focus on key episodes highlighting General Franco’s impact on Spanish art 1936-2000.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00 - Everyday Life in the Roman EmpireCourse start date: Thu 18 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sean GabbAn opportunity to find about how daily life was for ordinary people in the Roman Empire.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £169.00 - Rome: from Republic to Empire - 120 BC to 20 ADCourse start date: Tue 23 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sean GabbIn 120 BC, Rome was a city-state with functioning republican institutions that made room for a substantial element of democracy. It was also the dominant power in the Mediterranean World. By 20 AD, Rome was the capital of an autocratic empire that covered virtually the whole of the Mediterranean World and most of its surrounding territories. Between these dates, Rome saw the collapse of its ancient governing institutions in an orgy of political assassination, civil wars, purges, and military dictatorships.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - The poetry of modernity: Baudelaire, Dickinson, Rilke, MandelstamCourse start date: Thu 25 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Stephen WinfieldFollow the paths taken by four of the most courageous, life-affirming, uncompromisingly individual poets of the modern era, as they confront the challenges of psychological, sexual and artistic alienation (Baudelaire), religious and political conformity (Dickinson and Mandelstam), and of a world lost to materialism and the march of technology, devoid of all spirituality (Rilke: “You must change your life”).
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Who were the ancient Greeks?Course start date: Thu 25 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sean GabbThe Greeks are perhaps the exceptional people of the Ancient World. They were not saints: they were at least as willing as anyone else to engage in aggressive wars, enslavement, and sometimes human sacrifice. At the same time, working without any strong outside inspiration, they provided at least the foundations for the science, mathematics, philosophy, art and secular literature of later peoples.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £129.00 - Writing about food Course start date: Mon 15 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Laura SilvermanLove food and want to write about it? Whether you’re keen to review dishes, interview chefs or write about sustainable eating, now is your chance. This course will cover writing for established publications as well as personal blogs.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Women writing and walking: Virginia Woolf, Nan Shepherd, Rebecca Solnit
Course start date: Wed 24 Apr 2024Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sophie OxenhamThis online course considers the relationship between walking and writing in three innovative works of literary non-fiction: Virginia Woolf’s essay ‘Street Haunting’ (1927), Nan Shepherd’s ‘The Living Mountain’ (written c. 1945, first pub. 1977), and Rebecca Solnit’s ‘A Field Guide to Getting Lost’ (2006).
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - Exploring European cinemaCourse start date: Wed 24 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyThis class introduces you to a range of themes and issues in European cinema, including art cinema, national cinema, movements, 'moments' and new waves, authorship, popular cinema and genre, along with key developments in European film history from the silent era to the present day, key films, directors and the canon of European cinema, and a range of critical accounts of European cinema.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Contemporary women's fictionCourse start date: Wed 22 May 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Fiona McCullochDiscuss a selection of novels written by women in contemporary British society. Focusing on the 21st century, we consider the concerns of fiction in grappling with representing the now. We will make links between literary texts and social context to consider how fiction might be influenced by and influencing the real world beyond its covers. Texts include Bernardine Evaristo's Mr. Loverman (2013), Jenni Fagan's The Panopticon (2013) and Ali Smith's Hotel World (2002).
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00
Can't see a course you want?
Add this category to your waiting list to set up alerts and we will update you when new courses are released online.
Add me to waiting list