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

Join us in the heart of London for in-person classes. Our modern campus in Covent Garden is easy to reach and buzzing with creativity. With modern purpose-built facilities and state-of-the-art equipment, it’s the perfect space to support your learning journey. Explore our facilities >

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Whether you choose to study in-person or online, all our courses are live, interactive, and taught by expert tutors. Wherever and however you want to learn, we’re here for you.

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. The British Heritage film
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 22 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    Emerging in the 1980s, and promoted as a prestige cinema, the British heritage film is typified by high production values, period settings and, often, a canonical literary source. We will view films such as A Room with a View (1985) and The Remains of the Day (1993) and discuss their appeal for both domestic and international audiences, while exploring the critical debates around heritage cinema.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  2. Fifties Free Cinema: No Film can be too Personal
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 22 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  John Wischmeyer
    John Grierson has a lot to answer for. Not only did he popularise that most dreary and off-putting term ‘documentary’ in the 1930s, he only approved those that were utilitarian, pedagogic or impersonal. But in the 1950s a new generation of filmmakers rejected these restrictive forms and a Free Cinema was born: an interest in the poetry of the everyday and a talent for finding art hiding in plain sight in unsung and unprepossessing neighbourhoods. Documentary to provoke change. No film can be too personal. An urgent cultural revolution was suddenly exploding everywhere. New York’s ‘off Broadway’ film movement, influenced by Italian neorealism, shot Little Fugitive (1953 Morris Engel/Ruth Orkin) on location on Coney Island. It was nominated for an Oscar. This landmark film led to John Cassavetes’ independent style and was an acknowledged influence on the French New Wave, Direct Cinema (U.S.) and Cinema Verite (France). As if on cue, Agnes Varda filmed La Pointe Courte (1955) on location in Sete, inventing and kick-starting the New Wave of Godard and Truffaut and her own Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962). However, the biggest stirring of a new kind of documentary impulse was the Free Cinema in Britain, where Lindsay Anderson scorned the Griersonian style as didactic and dull and led the way to the British New Wave’s ‘kitchen sink’ films that were about our lives.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  3. Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00
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  4. A star is born: the birth of Hollywood stardom
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 1 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Ann-Marie Fleming
    Once cinema began to develop, Hollywood began to promote stardom. Starting with Florence Lawrence, the industry began to capitalise on star personalities and encourage fandom. This course will examine how the Hollywood star system began and evolved. The course will begin by examining the ‘picture personality’ in 1912 through to the collapse of the traditional star system in the 1960s.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  5. Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00
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  6. Cutting it fine: collage in modern & contemporary art
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sun 2 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Chantal Condron
    Immerse yourself in an exploration of the history of collage going as far back as ancient China to international contemporary art today. This engaging study day will enhance your knowledge of the roots of this fascinating media, and illustrate how collage techniques have been pivotal to major modern and contemporary art movements, from Cubism, Dada and Surrealism to photomontage and digital art.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  7. Great works: Jane Austen’s Emma
    Course start date:  Thu 6 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Kate Wilkinson
    This short in-college literature course explores Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ (1815), often considered her finest – and funniest – novel. We’ll study its characters, themes and narrative techniques, and we’ll consider the historical and social contexts in which Austen was writing.
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00
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  8. Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00
    Rating:
    84% of 100
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  9. Two British film noirs: The Third Man and Get Carter
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 8 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    From the shadows of post-war Vienna to the bleak north east of England, a chance to explore two film noirs: The Third Man (1949) from the style's golden age, and Get Carter (1970), a gritty neo-noir. We will be thinking about the contrasting styles of two these two celebrated crime films through a range of key scenes, and assessing their status as film noirs along with their critical reputations.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  10. Writing and rewriting fairytales
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 8 Mar 2025 (and 2 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Yvonne Singh
    Once upon a time there was a City Lit workshop all about writing fairytales. The quest: to inspire writers to pen stories of love, fear, forests, revenge, dragons, witches, kings, queens, frogs and magic.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00
    Rating:
    98% of 100
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  11. 19th Century Movements in Italian Literature: Manzoni, Verga, Tarchetti
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 15 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Francesco Bucciol
    Discover some key literary movements and novels that influenced the Italian cultural scene in the 19th century, through the study of three writers: Alessandro Manzoni, Giovanni Verga and Arrigo Boito.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  12. Satan and the Devil: a cultural eye view through text, image and tradition
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 15 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Ann Jeffers
    The figure of Satan/devil has pervaded many centuries of the cultural imagination of the Western world. The course will examine the literary and iconographic sources for this enduring phenomena and will ask why ideas about the devil have continued to both frighten and fascinate and why its long-lasting association with sexuality and deceit continues to make it an attractive theme in contemporary culture.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  13. Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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  14. Focus on: iconography
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sun 16 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Leslie Primo
    Ever wondered whether there’s a hidden meaning behind paintings? Discover why there are signs and symbols in paintings and how to find and interpret their meanings in medieval and Renaissance art.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
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  15. Two French film noirs: Les Diaboliques and Le Boucher
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 22 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    Two French film noirs from two masters of the style - and the most acclaimed films of each director's body of work: Henri- Georges Clouzot's mystery thriller, Les Diaboliques (1955), and Claude Chabrol's icy, intense psychological drama, Le Boucher (1970). Explore the contrasting styles of Clouzot's genre movie and Chabrol's art film, their critical reputations and enduring appeal for audiences.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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