Culture, history & humanities

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.

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. Contemporary cinema: the best films of the year
    Evening
    Course start date:  Mon 6 Jan 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  John Wischmeyer
    This crucial course on contemporary cinema coincides with the sheer variety of films released immediately before BAFTA /Academy Awards season. Join a community of cinephiles to discuss and debate your favourite films of the past year and compile a list—The List of Best Films—added to and modified as new films are released each week. Students become critics in an ongoing class conversation, some even sharing their inner-geek in a guilt-free environment. As we meet on Mondays, some students extend the day by going to the special price Monday Matinees at several neighbourhood cinemas. Whether you call it homework or dedication, that’s entertainment!
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £229.00 Concession £149.00
    Rating:
    96% of 100
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  2. Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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  3. Discover North London through walks
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 11 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Off Site

    Tutors:  Diane Burstein
    Uncover the history of North London’s historic districts including Highbury, Friern Barnet and North Finchley, High Barnet, Tottenham, Muswell Hill, Wood Green, Golders Green and the Northern Heights, Hampstead Garden Suburb, Kentish Town, Camden Town and Belsize Park.







    First meeting place: Saturday 13 January at 11am: Meet outside Highbury and Islington Tube Station (this could be altered if there are engineering works on the Victoria Line, please check before travelling).
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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  4. Writing Modern America
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Mon 13 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Julian Birkett
    American novelists have never shied away from exploring the urgent issues of their time in prose that is urgent, exhilarating, often hilarious, always compelling. The current generation of American writers is no exception. Race, sex, the changing demographics of the US,and the hopes and failures of the American dream figure prominently in current American writing. We’ll be reading some of the best novels that depict the conflicts and concerns of America today.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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  5. Introduction to art history
    Course start date:  Mon 13 Jan 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Sarah Jaffray
    Are you interested in art and want to get more out of looking at art and exhibitions? Want to know what an art historian does? Develop your interpretative skills by exploring at how art is made and what social and cultural factors construct our understanding of it.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
    Rating:
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  6. Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt (part 2): The end of his reign & its sequel
    Course start date:  Tue 14 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Michael Duigan
    The final years of the reign of Akhenaten, the gathering storm and tragedy which ended the ‘dream’ of Amarna.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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  7. Transports of delight: London's railway stations
    Course start date:  Tue 14 Jan 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Blended (learn both online and in-person)

    Tutors:  Eleanor Jackson
    London's stations see over 1 billion journeys annually, but the buildings themselves are often ignored. Explore a different station and environs each week, discovering the architecture, history, stories and future of these lifelines of London. The course starts with an initial zoom lecture, followed by a series of walking tours.



    This course will be delivered online and in person. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
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  8. Politics and Power in the Western Mediterranean (part 2)
    Course start date:  Wed 15 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Michael Duigan
    Discover the wealth and beauty of the later Greek colonies in Sicily & southern Italy.
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
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  9. An introduction to the art of seventeenth-century Europe: 1590–1690
    Course start date:  Thu 16 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Elizabeth Eyres
    Often referred to as “the Baroque”, the seventeenth century embraces some of the most dramatic, dynamic and acclaimed artworks ever produced, yet also some of the most tranquil and gentle. We will explore a wide range of paintings and sculptures from this period, discover why they look as they do, and investigate the powerful religious and historical contexts that influenced its artists.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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  10. Cultureplex ciné-club
    Course start date:  Thu 16 Jan 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Paul Sutton
    Come and join us at the Cultureplex Ciné-Club, where once a week, for 10 weeks (and throughout the rest of the academic year), we will watch and discuss film. Taking its cue from the famous Parisian ciné-club set up by the celebrated critic and writer, André Bazin, ‘the single thinker most responsible for bestowing on cinema the prestige both of an artform and of an object of knowledge’, and the man who foresaw the emergence of film studies as a legitimate discipline of academic study, our contemporary incarnation of the film club will offer a curated series of films for detailed study, discussion and debate. Each film will be introduced, placed in both its cinematic, cultural and historic context. In sharing our viewing in City Lit’s premier screening room, the Cultureplex, we will approximate the experience of watching film in the cinema, one that is intense and fully focussed in a way that other modes of viewing often are not. After the screening we will devote the rest of the class to a collective exploration of the film, led by the tutor, but involving everyone in a participatory discussion that will allow all to express their responses, their views, their thoughts on the film screened.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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  11. Classic Drama: Agamemnon, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, The Way of the World
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Mon 20 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Jenny Stevens
    We will read and discuss three classic plays: Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, John Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore and William Congreve’s The Way of the World. Focusing closely on structure, language and tone, we will analyse how dramatists across time have explored themes such as sexual politics, family relationships and revenge through their plays. In addition, we will consider the social, cultural and historical contexts in which the plays were produced.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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  12. Contemporary Asian fictions
    Course start date:  Wed 22 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Aamer Hussein
    Discover a careful selection of novels from East and South Asia, by writers living at home and abroad, which reflect the thematic versatility and narrative innovations which are bringing readers to these novels. Ranging from large canvases to intimate portraits, the choice includes: At Dusk by Hwang Sok-Young (Korea), Mild Vertigo by Mieko Kanai (Japan), Cocoon by Zhang Yueran (Japan), Brotherless Night by V.V Ganeshanathan (Sri Lanks/US).
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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  13. Weird and wondrous: the strange art of Bosch, Brueghel and the Surrealists
    Course start date:  Tue 28 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Emma Rose Barber
    Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Breughel the elder – two northern Renaissance artists and a larger group of 20th-century artists known as the Surrealists who share many similarities with the strange and curious subjects that they conjured up to ignite discussion and even outrage.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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  14. Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £167.00 Concession £136.00
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  15. Tales from everywhere: international fictions from the 20th century
    Course start date:  Wed 30 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Aamer Hussein
    A selection of novels from 1960 to 1980, including Heinrich Boll's powerful psychological fiction, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum; two works of speculative fiction, Marlen Haushofer's The Wall and Kay Dick's They; Latifa Zayyat's bildungsroman, The Open Door; and Mariama Ba's powerful exploration of mourning, So Long a Letter.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
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