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 online and in-person learning. 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. See our guide to online learning for more information about accessing our live online courses.

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  1. The art and cinema of 20th century Spain: from Picasso to Almodóvar
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 17 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Mark Stuart-Smith
    Explore the development of Spanish art from Picasso’s 1937 'Guernica' to the installations of Juan Muñoz in the 1980s and 1990s. We will focus on key episodes highlighting General Franco’s impact on Spanish art 1936-2000.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00
  2. The American century: the US from 1945 to the present
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 17 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Dafydd Townley
    This interactive lecture outline course explores the political, social, and cultural development of the United States since the end of World War 2 to the present day.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £179.00
  3. Post war German history: 1945-1961
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 17 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Rudolf Muhs
    This course offers a broad survey of German history from the end of the Second World War to the construction of the Berlin Wall at the height of the Cold war.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  4. The City of London: the Square Mile
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Jan 2024 (and 3 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Off Site

    Tutors:  Paul Sinclair
    Explore the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666. Discover how London recovered from one of the great disasters and became a centre of commerce and the heart of a great empire. We follow in the steps of some of its best known characters like Doctor Johnson and Samuel Pepys and some lesser known including William Lilley and Thomas Chatterton. The course follows on from the HLW06 The City of London: the square mile, but new students are welcome. The first meeting place is Monument station, Fish Street Hill exit.
    Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00
  5. The foreigners that invented British art
    Course start date:  Wed 7 Feb 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Leslie Primo
    Trace the importance of foreigners to the British art scene from the Tudor period to the Baroque. How did artists like Holbein, Dobson, van Somer and van Dyck influence the British School?
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
  6. Art and revolution: in the long 18th century
    Course start date:  Wed 21 Feb 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Sarah Jaffray
    From the absolute monarch to the beheaded king, discover how artists contributed to the cultural revolutions of the ‘long 18th century’ (1630s-1800). We explore how shifts in artistic style and subject matter reflected dramatic social change. Through reading the philosophy of the age we uncover how this era’s complex notions of beauty and justice still impact art and society today.
    Full fee £199.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  7. Art and melancholy: from the Enlightenment to the Victorian age
    Course start date:  Wed 17 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Emma Rose Barber
    Study the art of the period from c.1750-1880 considering Romanticism and the Pre-Raphaelites. We look at ‘romantic’ landscape, the modern moral subject and the depiction of women. Explore the art of women artists who struggled to survive as artists in the tightly controlled world of the art academy where the woman was encouraged to be muse and model rather than creator and thinker.
    Full fee £199.00
    Rating:
    70% of 100
  8. Colonial America: European settlement 1560 – 1815
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Dafydd Townley
    The online course explores European settlement (British, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish) of North America. It examines the differences between English colonies; the American Revolution; the formation of the United States; and the War of 1812.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £179.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  9. Village London
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Off Site

    Tutors:  Paul Sinclair
    London is made up of a series of villages, each with its own individual characteristics. Explore Shoreditch, Mayfair, Bermondsey, Notting Hill, Clerkenwell, Islington, Harrow on the Hill and Wapping,in 8 guided walks.



    First meeting place:meet at Shoreditch High Street station.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  10. Isis, Mithras and Christ: iconography and mythology
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Michael Bloomfield
    An introduction to the history, essential beliefs, mythology, and iconography, of three influential religions



    of the Graeco-Roman world: Isis, the mystery cult devoted to Mithras and Christ.
    Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £129.00
  11. Women writing and walking: Virginia Woolf, Nan Shepherd, Rebecca Solnit
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Sophie Oxenham
    This online course considers the relationship between walking and writing in three innovative works of literary non-fiction: Virginia Woolf’s essay ‘Street Haunting’ (1927), Nan Shepherd’s ‘The Living Mountain’ (written c. 1945, first pub. 1977), and Rebecca Solnit’s ‘A Field Guide to Getting Lost’ (2006).



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £169.00
  12. Exploring European cinema
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jon Wisbey
    This 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 £189.00 Senior fee £189.00 Concession £123.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
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