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. From independence to the present: Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
    Evening
    Course start date:  Tue 23 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Mirza Jaffer Abid
    Join us to explore the fascinating histories of the lesser studied South Asian nation-states of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from decolonisation to the present.



    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
  2. Hell, Heaven and Purgatory in the Middle Ages
    Course start date:  Tue 23 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Emma Rose Barber
    Why were images to do with the afterlife so prevalent in the Middle Ages? Come, face your eternal destinies and look at images such as the Last Judgement, skeletons, filthy flesh, worms, ghosts and Hell mouths.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
  3. 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 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
  4. How to plot your children’s novel
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Sophie McKenzie
    You’re a writer with some experience and a great idea for a children’s novel, but plotting is the thing that lets you down. Over six weeks on this fun and interactive course you’ll learn how to structure your book, finding fresh ways to develop your idea into a compelling plot.



    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
  5. Writing for magazines
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024 (and 5 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Susan Grossman
    Get 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 £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £70.00
    Rating:
    98% of 100
  6. 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
  7. Tales from everywhere: international fictions from the 20th century
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Aamer Hussein
    Join us to read and discuss a selection of novels from the 1950s and 1960, in English and in translation, some of which, like Stan Barstow’s powerful story of upward mobility A Kind of Loving and Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s poignant portrait of unrest in Kenya Weep Not, My Child, have rarely been out of print. Some are recent rediscoveries, such as Han Suyin’s story of forbidden romance in wartime London, Winter Love, and Chingiz Aitmatov’s delicate Kyrgyz fable, Jamilia. Fresh translations of Magda Szabo’s Iza’s Ballad and Tove Ditlevsen’s autobiographical coming of age story,Youth, are also included.



    NB. This course will have a break week on Wednesday 29 May.
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
  8. Art, politics & culture in East and West Germany, and after the Reunification
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 24 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Irina Chkhaidze
    Explore German art from the 1960s to present, from movements such as Conceptualism, Fluxus, Capitalist Realism and Neo-Expressionism to the most recent multi-media art.



    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 £119.00 Concession £77.00
  9. An introduction to paradox
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 25 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Oliver Josiah
    A paradox is an apparently absurd conclusion derived from seemingly uncontroversial premises through supposedly valid reasoning. This course will introduce you to six major philosophical paradoxes and some of the attempts to solve them.



    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
  10. Ways into creative writing: intensive
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 25 Apr 2024 (and 10 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Nicole Acquah
    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
  11. Art of the Northern Renaissance
    Course start date:  Thu 25 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Elizabeth Eyres
    Discover the exquisite art of the Northern Renaissance through the work of its most innovative artists, including Albrecht Dürer, Rogier van der Weyden, Jan van Eyck, Grünewald, Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder.



    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
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  12. A day in the life of the everyday: the twentieth century circadian novel: Mrs. Dalloway, One Fine Day, The Hours
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Fri 26 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Jenny Stevens
    Novels that fit all their action into just one day (‘circadian novels’) have been penned by some of literature’s most esteemed authors. This course focuses on three novels which use the one-day structure to tell their stories: Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (1925), Mollie Pater-Downes’s One Fine Day (1947), and Michael Cunningham’s The Hours (1999). It explores how they portray the inner life of characters, at the same time as engaging with broader social issues of the time.
    Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00
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