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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- Reading fairytales: happy every after?Course start date: Wed 11 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Fiona McCullochReading a selection of classic fairy tales, we will explore how fairy tales evolve by reading different versions, including ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, ‘Snow White’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Hansel and Gretel’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and ‘Bluebeard’, investigating how fairy tales evolve by reading different versions,.
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 - Avant-garde women: art innovations of the 20th & 21st centuries
Course start date: Thu 12 Oct 2023Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Irina ChkhaidzeDiscover the work of prominent modern and contemporary women artists from the early twentieth century to the present, looking at the political and social transformations reflected in the artworks.
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 - Sport and empireCourse start date: Thu 19 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Colm HickeySport was a key branch of imperialism providing an opportunity for Britain to take cultural control of her Empire. It was seen to encourage ‘civilisation’ and character development and helped to project a masculine image of the Empire to the wider world.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Great essayists: humourists, firebrands and provocateursCourse start date: Mon 23 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Richard NilandFrom Henry David Thoreau and George Orwell to James Baldwin and Rebecca Solnit, the essay exists as a literary vehicle for urgent ideas in a range of skillfully controlled literary voices. This class examines the work of classic essayists, delving into the work of both impassioned and reflective non-fiction writers.Full fee £179.00 - The City of London: the Square Mile Course start date: Wed 25 Oct 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Paul SinclairExplore the City’s development from Roman and medieval times through to the Tudors and Stuarts.
This course will comprise of 8 walks starting with Roman London. First meeting place at Monument station on the Monument side.Full fee £179.00 - 'A moment's monument': Capturing time, place and feeling in the sonnet formCourse start date: Fri 27 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Jenny StevensDante Gabriel Rossetti described the sonnet as a ‘moment’s monument’, so capturing the form’s unique mix of brevity and durability. This course charts how the sonnet has developed over more than five centuries by engaging with close reading of poetry from the Renaissance, Romantic, Victorian and modern periods. Focusing on both commonly anthologised and less familiar examples of the sonnet, it explores the form’s enduring power and adaptability.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Spanish Art 1900-1937: the age of Picasso, Miró and Dalí Course start date: Wed 1 Nov 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Mark Stuart-SmithReflecting a 'silver age' of literature, art in Spain before the Civil war encompasses the modernist genius of Picasso, Juan Gris and Miró; the surrealism of Dalí and the late Impressionism of Joaquín Sorolla.
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 - Renaissance art: making, locating and viewingCourse start date: Wed 8 Nov 2023
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberThis course explores the Making, the Locating and the Viewing of Renaissance paintings in the collection of the National Gallery. This course takes place at the National Gallery.Full fee £179.00 - Art and power: from the Counter-Reformation to the Baroque Course start date: Wed 8 Nov 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayDiscover how artists documented and (many times) defined the political and religious revolutions of 17th century Europe. From Caravaggio to Velázquez, Rubens and Gentileschi we trace the artist’s cultural impact while also studying the development of artistic independence through readings on art theory and the art market.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Transports of delight: London's railway stations Course start date: Tue 9 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Blended (learn both online and in-person)
Tutors: Eleanor JacksonLondon's stations see over 1 billion journeys annually, but the buildings themselves are often ignored. Explore a different station and environs each week, discovering the architecture, history, stories and future of these lifelines of London. The course starts with an initial zoom lecture followed by a series of walking tours.
This course will be delivered online and in person. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Art and empire: in the early modern era Course start date: Wed 10 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberStudy 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 - City of words: further adventuresCourse start date: Thu 11 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Eleanor JacksonLondon luxuriates in literary references. We follow the footsteps of the authors, poets and playwrights, and some of their creations, as we walk a brand new neighbourhood each week, exploring the literary connections.
London guide: Eleanor Jackson. First meeting point at Green Park tube station, street level, Piccadilly South side.
London guide: Eleanor Jackson.Full fee £169.00 - Communism in the USSR: 1945-1991
Course start date: Mon 15 Jan 2024Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Nick MorganThis course is an introduction to the history of the Soviet regime from the moment of its victory in the Second World
War to its collapse in 1991.
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 - The art and cinema of 20th century Spain: from Picasso to AlmodóvarCourse start date: Wed 17 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Mark Stuart-SmithExplore 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 - The American century: the US from 1945 to the presentCourse start date: Wed 17 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Dafydd TownleyThis 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
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