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.
- Life writing: getting started
Course start date: Mon 16 Jun 2025 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Alice RobbThis inspiring workshop encourages students to explore a range of techniques and approaches for writing about your own life.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - Writing science fiction Course start date: Tue 17 Jun 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: KR MoorheadLearn how to build futuristic worlds and set them to explore thought-provoking concepts in this course on writing science fiction.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £75.00 - Queer UK: Broadcasting historyCourse start date: Tue 17 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Siobhan McGuirkAttitudes towards gender and sexuality have transformed over the past 50 years. Television has documented it all – and sometimes surprisingly driven – radical change. Join us to explore the key moments that shaped Queer UK.
Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £8.00 Concession £7.00 - Understanding the dynamics of the Middle East: Türkiye, Iran and Saudi ArabiaCourse start date: Tue 17 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Caglar EzikogluJoin Dr. Çaglar Ezikoglu to examine the political, social, and economic dynamics of Türkiye, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, exploring their roles in shaping the modern Middle East.lity.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00 - Refugee Week at City Lit: Climate change, food insecurity and refugeesCourse start date: Tue 17 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Olivia DurandExplore how colonialism, industrial agriculture, and capitalist extraction have shaped global food systems—driving hunger, displacement, and refugee movements. Through case studies, we will examine resistance efforts reclaiming food sovereignty and sustainable alternatives.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £7.00 - The Socratic philosophers: AristotleCourse start date: Thu 19 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: John GoffThis is a basic introduction to the philosophy of Aristotle, of which his ‘Ethics’ & ‘Politics’ will form the core.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00 - Friday lates: Text as image from the Renaissance to nowCourse start date: Fri 20 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayWhat happens when word becomes image? From Chinese calligraphy to the prints of Francisco Goya, the graffitied phrases of Jean-Michel Basquiat and truisms of Jenny Holzer, this short course explores how to read text as image. We'll explore how we might read differently in the context of an artwork and how to approach artworks that rely on text as part of their visual composition.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - Refugee Week at City Lit: political refugees and exiles in Latin America during the Cold WarCourse start date: Fri 20 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Maria Vasquez-AguilarJoin this session to understand how political refugees and exiles are central to understanding Latin America during the Cold War, and their arrival to the UK. This course is part of City Lit’s Refugee Week events.
Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £7.00 - Queer UK: rebels and revolutionariesCourse start date: Tue 24 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Siobhan McGuirkUnder-sung heroes, heroines and trancestors have long battled to make life bearable, better and even brilliant for LGBTIQ+ people in the UK. Join us to celebrate key figures in local history – and groups still battling for change
Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £8.00 Concession £7.00 - Art and critical theory: rethinking 'nature' Course start date: Wed 25 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Irina ChkhaidzeExplore the role of critical theory within the field of art history, and learn new ways of thinking about art by focusing on how recent authors have been rethinking our understanding of nature.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00 - Literary Landscapes: Black London in Caleb Nelson’s Open Water and Sam Selvon’s The Lonely LondonersCourse start date: Thu 26 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
Black London is shifting and ever-evolving. This course explores how Costa award winning Caleb Nelson’s novel ‘Open Water’ and the great 1950’s classic of immigrant fiction, Sam Selvon’s ‘The Lonely Londoners’ reimagined our multicultural metropolis.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00 - An Introduction to 21st century British drama and societyCourse start date: Mon 30 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
This online course offers an introduction to the concept of the 21st century British dramatist as a social observer, enabling a deeper understanding of how playwrights can illuminate and comment on social issues. Join us to find out how playwrights Polly Stenham, Jez Butterworth and Phillip Ralph have interrogated a variety of societal ills including a miscarriage of justice, dependency issues, class and the façade of contentment amongst the upwardly mobile.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - Art history taster Course start date: Tue 1 Jul 2025 (and 7 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayCurious about art history? Join us for this taster session where we explore different ways into visual art and its histories from the ancient to the contemporary.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £10.00 - The Odyssey reading group (in translation) Course start date: Thu 10 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Justin MurrayHomer’s epic tale of Odysseus’ journey home after the Trojan War may now be over 2,500 years old but it still has much to tell us about the Ancient Greek world that is still relevant today. Explore this great work in translation. - From the Habsburgs to the EU: The History of Italy’s North-EastCourse start date: Tue 15 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Francesco BucciolThe cities of Trieste and Gorizia, on today's Italian North-Eastern border, had a very complicated history in the 19th and 20th century. In this session you will discover the key historical events that marked these lands. From the divisions caused by the two world wars to the choice of Gorizia/Nova Gorica as EU's Capital of Culture 2025.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
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