History, culture & writing

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.

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. Get together and read
    Course start date:  Thu 2 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Claire Allen
    Enjoy talking with other people about the things you have read? Want to share great stories, poems and drama? Come along and join the conversation. The group is led by a shared reading practitioner trained by The Reader Organisation.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £50.00
    Rating:
    97% of 100
  2. Europe 1900-1914
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 2 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Sebastien Ardouin
    In 1900, Europe looked with confidence to the future. Within fourteen years though, tensions between competing powers increased to the point that peace could no longer be preserved. What explains this descent into hell?



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £269.00 Senior fee £269.00 Concession £175.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  3. Historical fiction: reimagining and rewriting
    Course start date:  Thu 2 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Kate Wilkinson
    What’s the unique appeal of historical fiction? Why do we read it, and what are we looking for? This course investigates historical fiction written in the twenty-first century and how it reimagines the past for us as contemporary readers. Reading novels and short stories set in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, we’ll explore historical fiction’s strategies, challenges and pleasures: how it can bring unknown stories into view and rewrite what we think we know. Includes Francis Spufford's Golden Hill (2016), Emma Donoghue's The Woman who Gave Birth to Rabbits (2002) and Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet (2020).
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00
  4. Struggle to be heard: Rimbaud, Cavafy, Tsvetaeva, Binta Breeze
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 2 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Laurie Smith
    We look at four poets who struggled to be heard or accepted because their work was so different from what their society expected. What were the barriers they had to overcome and how did they win through to become admired and highly regarded? What made one of the poets stop writing at the age of 21 and the other three continue for the rest of their lives? What makes the poetry of all of them so original, and what can we learn from their resilience?
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £45.00
  5. An introduction to film
    Evening
    Course start date:  Fri 3 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    Develop your critical understanding of cinema through a range of concepts and critical approaches in film studies, including narrative, genre, spectatorship, authorship and directors, popular cinema, art cinema, national cinema and early film, along with technological developments including the transition to sound, while we view and discuss a range of key films from cinema's history as examples.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00
    Rating:
    90% of 100
  6. Seventeenth century Europe: the age of monarchy
    Course start date:  Fri 3 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Vanessa King
    Post-Reformation Europe saw endemic warfare and plague. It was also an age of absolutism where royal courts reached their apogee as centres of patronage and splendour.



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    Full fee £269.00 Senior fee £215.00 Concession £175.00
  7. Friday lates: the body as image and material in 20th century art
    Evening
    Course start date:  Fri 3 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Irina Chkhaidze
    Explore the representation of body and body-related practices by prominent modern and contemporary artists of the twentieth century.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00
  8. Magnificence and display under the Tudors
    Course start date:  Fri 3 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Vanessa King
    Explore how the Tudors cultivated the art of magnificence in the form of pageants, tapestries, paintings, jewellery and dress to detract from what was essentially a weak dynasty.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00
  9. Exploring the memory politics of East Asia
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 4 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Qiuyang Chen
    Discover how memory shapes politics in East Asia. Explore pivotal case studies from China, South Korea, and Japan to understand the impact of collective memory on national identities and international relations.
    Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00
  10. Looking at design: Arts and Crafts to Art Deco
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 4 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Rachel Sanders
    Study the design reform movements – Arts and Crafts, Aesthetic Movement, Art Nouveau and Art Deco – and analyse a wide range of products, including fashion and textiles, graphics, furniture and architecture within their social, historic and artistic context. Includes a museum visit.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £64.00
  11. Full fee £109.00 Senior fee £109.00 Concession £55.00
    Rating:
    96% of 100
  12. An introduction to art history: interpreting theory
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 4 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Rachel Sanders
    Explore a variety of art movements, from Romanticism to American Social Realism through an introductory study of the writing of art theorists and commentators who have made a significant contribution to the Art History discipline.
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
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