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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- Writing poetry: getting started
Course start date: Thu 12 Jun 2025 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Billie ManningThis short, fun workshop is the perfect starting point for students who are writing for the first time or new to the poetry path. Join us for thought-provoking writing exercises and poetry theory for beginners.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - How to write a novel synopsis and query letter Course start date: Sat 14 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rosie ChardThis one-day workshop teaches students how to write a query letter and synopsis of their completed manuscript, essential requirements of submitting to agents and publishers. - Economics made easy: understanding cryptocurrency and blockchainCourse start date: Sat 14 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Vina TheodorakopoulouDemystify cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in this beginner-friendly course, exploring their economic implications through engaging discussions and practical examples.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £59.00 Concession £59.00 - Edith Wharton, Henry James and the Decoration of HousesCourse start date: Sat 14 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Phyllis RichardsonEdith Wharton and Henry James had a keen eye for a well-designed and tastefully decorated house and both brought us depictions of splendid interiors in their novels set in ‘the Gilded Age’. We’ll discuss the changing tastes at the turn of the century, and how both authors used interior decoration to reflect the moral turn of their characters and the age.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Demystifying PoetryCourse start date: Sat 21 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Whether you are new to poetry or an experienced reader of verse, this course will enable and enhance your enjoyment by exploring the techniques that poetry uses to affect our response and create meaning. Exploring rhythm and rhyme, voice, mood, imagery, language and allusions, we will focus on a diverse range of poetic examples to examine how this powerful form of literature works to create emotion and connection with the reader.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - International Monetary Fund (IMF): Friend or Foe?Course start date: Sat 21 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tariq HassanAfter more than 75 years since the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the world’s lender of last resort, made its first loan, the effects of its policies in general and lending practices in particular remain contested.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £45.00 - Study day: The Dada revolution from Duchamp to Hannah HöchCourse start date: Sat 21 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersThis course will explore the Dada movement, focusing on Duchamp and Höch as key examples, considering such issues as social and political context, theoretical interests, material experimentation, and artistic influences.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - A condensed history of sculpture: ten sculptors who’ve shaped art historyCourse start date: Sat 28 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersStudy sculptors from the Renaissance to the Post-Modern, including Donatello, Bernini, Canova, Rodin, Picasso and Whiteread, considering styles, materials, and techniques of key works within social and cultural contexts.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Neurodiversity as a fact of society: a brief introductionCourse start date: Sat 28 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Vina TheodorakopoulouBritish society is diverse, and not only in terms of faiths, ethnic backgrounds and other mostly visible differences. Neurodiversity is also a central aspect. Join us on this non-accredited course for a brief introduction to neurodiversity in society and discover how to engage with and support neurodivergent strengths.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £59.00 Concession £59.00 - What is cinema?Course start date: Sat 28 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Paul SuttonNowadays there are so many ways to watch film - smart phones, tablets, TVs - just as there are so many different spaces in which we encounter the moving image - cinemas, galleries, our homes, to name but a few. This day-long course will broaden and deepen your critical awareness of the diverse formal and experiential possibilities of cinema, both as they have developed in the past and as they are transforming in the contemporary moment. It will do this by reflecting on two questions: ‘what is cinema?’ and ‘where is cinema?’.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - The Rise and Fall of the Mughal EmpireCourse start date: Sat 28 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: T HussainFollow the fortunes of the Mughal Emperors, rulers of Northern India from the 1500s to the 1800s. What were their contributions to the religious, political and cultural life of northern India and how can we explain the decline of their powers in the 1700s and 1800s?Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £45.00 - Landmark Poetry: places and spacesCourse start date: Sat 28 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
What is the role of poetry ‘off the page’ in public spaces? Can a poem change the way we might re-encounter cultural history? Do statues serve as ‘informants’ from the past? We read poetry by Jackie Kay, Lemn Sissay and Dorothea Smartt commissioned for bridges, pavements, monuments, even super sewer ventilation shafts to identify the challenges, revisions and celebrations that emerge from exploring the place of poetry in public spaces.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Indian Women and the RajCourse start date: Sat 5 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: T HussainWhy does gender history matter and what can it tell us about the history of British colonialism and India? Join this six-week course to explore the representations and reality of Indian women’s lives during the British colonial era.Full fee £49.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £32.00 - Philosophy of artCourse start date: Sat 5 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Christopher HornerWhy do we value art? For the pleasure it gives us, the emotion it expresses, its truthfulness, its form? In this introduction to the philosophy of art we will consider various approaches to these questions and others. - Spices, Trade, and Traditions of the Indian Sub-Continent - The Story of Food from Ancient Times to the Colonial EraCourse start date: Sat 12 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ketan VariaJoin us to discover the history of food on the subcontinent, from the ancient period to the colonial era.How did local climates, agricultural practices, and cultural interactions shape regional cuisines?Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £51.00
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