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. Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £209.00 Concession £105.00
    Rating:
    87% of 100
  2. Art and empire: in the early modern era
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Wed 10 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Emma Rose Barber
    Study the art of the Dutch Golden Age from 1600 to 1750 looking at the luxurious, tactile paintings of domestic life and landscape of this gloriously rich period in art. Consider the role that commerce, travel and trade played in how these paintings were made and through critical analysis of texts, try and evaluate the validity of the term ‘Golden Age’.
    Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00
    Rating:
    87% of 100
  3. Contemporary life and its discontents: paradoxes of the present
    Course start date:  Wed 10 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Katie Goss
    Twenty-first century culture is becoming increasingly strange: from conspiracy theories and climate anxiety to compulsive doom-scrolling and the meme-ification of everyday life. This course will explore these and other phenomenon endemic to the present, analysing and exploring their significance through texts, films, artworks, cultural objects and psychoanalytic theory.
    Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00
  4. Post-colonial cinemas
    Course start date:  Wed 10 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Jean-Baptiste de Vaulx
    This course will examine a crucially important but often neglected area of film history, namely the responses to and against colonialist legacy made by many different strands of filmmaking around the Global South, from films like The Battle of Algiers, to Latin American Third Cinema, via Sub-Saharan African filmmakers such as Sembene or Mambety, in order to enrich the canon of world cinema.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00
  5. Reading images: exploring film studies
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 10 Jan 2024 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Cristina Massaccesi
    This comprehensive introductory course provides an overview of the main historical, technical and theoretical aspects of filmmaking and film analysis.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00
  6. The Stalin Regime: 1928-1941
    Course start date:  Wed 10 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Nick Morgan
    This is an introduction to the history of the Stalin regime in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1941. Students will learn about key events during the Stalin years and how historians approach them.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  7. Ways into creative writing: intensive
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 1 Nov 2023 (and 9 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Not sure whether creative writing is for you? Give it a try on one of these fun and supportive short courses covering the basics of fiction and poetry. Increase your confidence and produce work through guided exercises and discussion.



    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
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  8. Anthropology of Art, Film and Photography
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 17 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Yasmin Hales
    This introductory course aims to critically explore the role and symbolic meaning of art from a cross-cultural perspective, ranging from the concept of beauty, the beliefs and rituals associated with material objects, to the human body as canvas and the role of museums.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
  9. The Trojan War (continued): History or Myth?
    Course start date:  Wed 17 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Michael Duigan
    The poetry of Homer and other myths tell us about the ‘abduction of Helen’ and the destruction of a city. Do archaeology and contemporary state archives support this epic tradition?
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
  10. Reading for writers: feminist fiction (a fortnightly course)
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 17 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Eleanor Penny
    The landscape of feminist fiction is rich and multifaceted. In this course we'll explore just a fragment to learn what lessons authors of feminist workscan teach budding writers of fiction. We'll read novels by Doris Lessing, Bernadine Evaristo, Mieko Kawakami, and others. We'll analyse, discuss and use these works to inspire and develop our own fiction. You will need to come to the first class having read the short works 'Woman at Point Zero', by Nawal El Saadawi, and 'The Yellow Wallpaper', by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.



    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
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  11. The making of Norman London
    Course start date:  Wed 17 Jan 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Michael Bloomfield
    The course covers Norman history of London from 1050 to 1200, in the context of the wider history of England, drawing upon written sources, archaeological evidence, art and selected artefacts to understand the London’s development.
    Full fee £119.00
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