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.
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- Image and identity: 20th century Chinese art and cinema
Course start date: Wed 1 Feb 2023Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Meitao QuExplore the art of Chinese artists and filmmakers from the turn of the 20th century to the turn of the 21st, as they try to make sense of a world on the cusp between the old and the new, marked by encounters with imperialism and iconoclasm. Learn what place art had in socio-political movements, and how it reflected the hopes and anxieties of its time.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £109.00 Senior fee £109.00 Concession £71.00 - Advanced creative non-fiction workshopCourse start date: Wed 31 May 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street (other locations are available)
Tutors: Paul LaffanThis advanced workshop is designed for students who have already completed introductory and intermediate creative-non fiction courses and would like to focus on workshopping their writing.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £65.00 - The philosophical Hamlet: life, death and everything in betweenCourse start date: Wed 22 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Borna RadnikCan we ever escape our past? Can we act to change our future? This course examines various philosophical themes through engagement with different philosophical traditions and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
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 £79.00 Concession £50.00 - Curating and collecting contemporary art in the UKCourse start date: Wed 22 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chantal CondronHave you ever wondered how works of art and cultural objects have been collected for public museums and galleries in Britain? Who collected these objects? What functions have public collections played in society? Why ‘collect for the nation’?Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £90.00 - Writing a memoir (continuation)Course start date: Fri 13 Jan 2023 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street (other locations are available)
Tutors: Julie GartonSome moments in our lives are so powerful they beg to be shared with the world. This continuation course guides students in developing a memoir project that will resonate and inspire.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £65.00 - The Golden Age of US Television: 1950sCourse start date: Wed 22 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Paul RixonThis course explores what, for many critics, was the first golden age of US television in the 1950s. For the critics the live anthologies drama series which appeared at this time, such as Kraft Theatre, came to offer acclaimed single plays including Marty (1953) and Twelve Angry Men (1954), by writers such as Paddy Chayefsky and Gore Vidal. For critics, these were a form of well-crafted, intense, claustrophobic television dramas. By the early 1960s these dramas had been replaced by filmed series and serials.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £90.00 - Exploring East Asian cinemaCourse start date: Wed 1 Mar 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyThis course introduces you to the cinema of Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. We will consider the history and development of cinema in the region, its key films, filmmakers and movements, and a range of representative genres and film styles, while also thinking about its international critical reception and cultural function as both national and transnational cinema.
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 - The 60 minute writerCourse start date: Tue 10 Jan 2023 (and 7 other dates)
Location on this date: Online (other locations are available)
Tutors: Tasha KavanaghFit creative writing into your busy day: a relaxed, informal rolling programme for writers of all levels of experience who enjoy being thrown new ideas and experimenting with poetry and prose.
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 £50.00 - Writing for magazinesCourse start date: Wed 18 Jan 2023 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Susan GrossmanGet inspired to write on this practical course for freelance journalists and bloggers. Learn to carry out research, interview people, pitch and publish stories, and build your presence on social media.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £65.00 - Writing fantasy storiesCourse start date: Wed 19 Apr 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Mary VictoriaBuild fantastical worlds, fill them with compelling characters and learn how to structure innovative plotlines in this perfect introduction for those with a passion for fantasy.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £209.00 Concession £105.00 - Writing for children: workshopCourse start date: Wed 19 Apr 2023 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street (other locations are available)
Tutors: Josh LaceyFor experienced children's writers, this ongoing workshop offers an opportunity to develop your work-in-progress with constructive feedback from tutor and classmates.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £219.00 Concession £110.00 - Makers not muses: Claude Cahun, Eileen Agar and Isabel RawsthorneCourse start date: Wed 26 Apr 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chantal CondronExplore the work of three radical artists whose work and practice defied convention in modern art from the 1920s to 1960s. Discover how each artist challenged and transcended society’s expectations of being a ‘muse’ by living freely and making art in a variety of media, from painting and sculpture to collage, photography and performance.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £45.00 - Exploring European cinemaCourse start date: Wed 26 Apr 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyThis class introduces you to a range of themes and issues in European cinema, including art cinema, national cinema, movements, 'moments' and new waves, authorship, popular cinema and genre, along with key developments in European film history from the silent era to the present day, key films, directors and the canon of European cinema, and a range of critical accounts of European cinema.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00 - Social media for writersCourse start date: Wed 24 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lisa GollLearn to wield a powerful tool in the contemporary writer’s arsenal: social media.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £35.00 - Island adventure storiesCourse start date: Wed 24 May 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Fiona McCullochDiscover and discuss a selection of novels set on desert islands. Why are adventure tales often set on islands? Are these islands paradises or purgatories? Who are civilised characters and who are savages? Why? Since Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719), we have been spellbound by stories of shipwreck and survival, so we will explore this further in novels that come after Crusoe, known as 'Robinsonnades'.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £109.00 Senior fee £109.00 Concession £71.00
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