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. Ways into advanced film studies: film theory
    Course start date:  Tue 4 Jun 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Paul Sutton
    This advanced level film studies course will introduce you to a range of theoretical approaches to the study of film. It will consider some of the earliest attempts to think about film, studies that borrowed methodologies from other disciplines. As early as 1915, for example, writers were applying psychology to film analysis, exploring the emotional responses of audiences to this still new medium. Early theorists argued for film as a distinct art form, and we will examine a number of their key texts. In the 1960s, film studies began to develop as a specific subject of study in universities in the US and the UK, once again deploying perspectives from other subject areas. We will examine a number of these theories and consider their continued importance for the analysis and understanding of film today.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00
  2. Modern African history: understanding the state and economy since independence
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 4 Jun 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Ingrid Aguiar Schlindwein
    Explore post-colonial Africa's political, economic, and social journey since independence. Gain insights into state building, governance, development, and identity, fostering a holistic understanding of Africa's historical evolution.



    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
  3. Art and critical theory: feminism and post-colonialism
    Course start date:  Tue 4 Jun 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Irina Chkhaidze
    Explore the role of critical theory within the field of art history, and learn new ways of thinking about art by focusing on feminism, post-colonial theory and the notion of the death of the author.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00
    Rating:
    80% of 100
  4. Ways into Islamic art
    Course start date:  Tue 11 Jun 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Anita Chowdry
    An introductory course providing an overview of the development of the visual language of Islamic cultures in Asia, Africa and Europe.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
  5. The City in Literature: freedom and flappers in the bohemian city
    Course start date:  Tue 25 Jun 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Alexander Fairbairn-Dixon
    Join us to explore three works of life writing set in Paris and Berlin between the wars, where café culture, the adventure of the streets, bohemian life, and nocturnal temptations offer opportunities for artistic, personal, and sexual freedom. Set in post-WW1 Paris and pre-WW2 Berlin, writers, artists, and adventurers find themselves entangled within the moving fabric of unpredictable social and political changes. Writers include Ernest Hemingway, Jean Rhys and Christopher Isherwood.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00
  6. Greek myths: ancient truths, modern mystery
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 2 Jul 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Maria Contos
    Myth permeated all aspects of ancient society and much the same can be said today. Investigate the relevance and perseverance of the Greek myth and why these tales continue to fascinate.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00
    Rating:
    80% of 100
  7. How to get published
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 18 Feb 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Neil Arksey
    So you've finished your novel. What's next? This short course provides guidance in submitting to agents and publishers, and helps you to tailor your work to maximise its potential in the marketplace.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £75.00
  8. Art history and cinema
    Course start date:  Tue 17 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Gillian McIver
    Since cinema's earliest days, literature has provided movies with stories. But there is another way of looking at film: through its relationship with painting, the oldest of the art forms.



    We’ll look at paintings by Friedrich, Titian, Hopper, Bacon, Delaroche and many more. We’ll view Red Desert, Pan’s Labyrinth, Easy Rider – looking at realism, surrealism and more.



    As you can see, all of these are quite different! Let’s see how movies connect us to art history.



    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 £84.00
  9. Japan at the pictures
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 17 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Jean-Baptiste de Vaulx
    This course will introduce you to the cinema of Japan, one of the world’s most important national cinemas. It will introduce you to films by major Japanese directors, such as Kurosawa, Ozu, Mizoguchi and Kitano. It will also explore the aesthetics of these films, situating them within their broader historical, cultural, critical and industrial contexts. It will also look at the functioning of genre and the peculiarities of the star system within Japanese filmmaking.



    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
  10. Great European Short Stories
    Course start date:  Tue 24 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Julian Birkett
    The short story in Europe has characteristics all of its own. While British, Irish and American stories are rooted in psychological realism, many European writers have tended towards a more philosophical approach, reflecting the concerns of the modern age as experienced by the sensibilities of individual writers. Authors such as Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka and Albert Camus are masters of the kinds of tale which ask profound question about the nature of our existence. They are also supreme stylists capable of sustaining a gripping narrative.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  11. Memoir Fiction: Karl Ove Knausgaard, Martin Amis, Philip Roth
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 24 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Lewis Ward
    We will discuss questions of memory, history and genre through readings of three fascinating examples of ‘memoir fiction’: Karl Ove Knausgaard’s A Death in the Family, Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, and Martin Amis’ Inside Story.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00
  12. Writing from Life: memoir, autofiction, novels
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 24 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Kate Wilkinson
    What do we want and expect from life stories? On this online literature course we’ll read a selection of fascinating books and extracts, which experiment in different ways to combine stories of personal experience and literary invention. As well as memoirs the course includes ‘autofiction’ – a description for the work of novelists whose material is, explicitly, their own life – and we’ll explore this tricky and sometimes controversial category of writing. We’ll think too about some of the ethical and cultural questions that writing from life can raise, including privacy and a right of reply, and think about factors that may affect a book’s critical reception.



    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
  13. It Can't Happen Here: Sinclair Lewis, Philip Roth, Muriel Spark
    Course start date:  Tue 24 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Alexander Fairbairn-Dixon
    Explore three ground-breaking works of ‘speculative’ prose fiction, each offering a highly innovative examination of C20 American political populism. From bitter satire, unnerving dystopia, to the lightly comic, we’ll see how the texts embody genuine anxieties of authoritarianism in America. Surely,- ‘it can’t happen here’?
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
  14. Poetry workshop: intensive
    Course start date:  Tue 16 Apr 2024 (and 2 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Julie Irigaray
    Want to have your poems critiqued in a supportive environment? This intensive poetry workshop focuses on offering feedback to poets who have already written a selection of poems and are looking to push their writing further.



    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 £70.00
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