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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- Lunchtime lecture: Vincent van Gogh - London, Paris, and JapanCourse start date: Wed 27 Sep 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Julia MusgraveFollow Vincent van Gogh from London to Paris in the late 19th century and discover the artistic influences and friendships that informed his art.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £7.00 - Literature taster: poetry
Course start date: Wed 27 Sep 2023Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sophie OxenhamEver wondered what an online Literature course at City Lit is like? Or wondering whether studying poetry is for you? Tempted to try, but not ready to commit to a whole course? Try this taster session on studying poetry to boost your confidence and whet your appetite for further study!
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £7.00 - Friday lates: the East India Company and the passion for chintz Course start date: Fri 29 Sep 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Anita ChowdryExplore the story of how Indian painted and printed cottons became an important trade commodity for the Western domestic market, and the far-reaching impact of their design and manufacture.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - A taste of politicsCourse start date: Fri 29 Sep 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Martin JorgensenBorders, conflicts, citizenship, elections, activism and global politics. We see these topics on the news every day. Some seem connected, others less so. Join our politics taster to get perspective and an overview of our politics courses.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £10.00 - Friday Late: The British Empire, sugar & enslavementCourse start date: Fri 29 Sep 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Ellen CarpenterHow did sugar become central to Georgian dining and what impact did sugar consumption in Britain have on enslavement and the slave trade? Join us for a one-off Friday Late session on the history of sugar, sugar consumption in Britain and its darker associations with enslavement and slave produced crops in the Caribbean colonies.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £7.00 - How to get an agent Course start date: Sat 30 Sep 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sophie McKenzieThis intensive workshop offers students insider, need-to-know information on securing a literary agent.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £35.00 - Writing and rewriting fairytales Course start date: Sun 3 Mar 2024 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Victoria M. AdamsOnce upon a time there was a City Lit workshop all about writing fairytales. The quest: to inspire writers to pen stories of love, fear, forests, revenge, dragons, witches, kings, queens, frogs and magic.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £35.00 - A sense of place: Constable’s HampsteadCourse start date: Tue 3 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Marilyn GreeneExplore Georgian and Regency Hampstead walking in the footsteps of John Constable and seeing places he painted and quotes about his thoughts and feelings on Hampstead and his art.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £8.00 Concession £7.00 - Lunchtime lecture: The Other Story – introducing the BLK Art GroupCourse start date: Wed 4 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayGet to know the ground-breaking art and ideas of the BLK Art Group, the early 1980s art and activist community whose work still shapes our conversations about art and culture in the UK today.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £7.00 - Friday lates: the Bauhaus in London Course start date: Fri 6 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Julie BarlowThe Staatliches Bauhaus opened its doors in Weimar, Germany in 1919. Fourteen years later it was shut down by the Nazis. Celebrate 100 years of Modernism in architecture and design and discover how Bauhaus style spread to London.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Craft focus: character in fiction Course start date: Sat 7 Oct 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tasha KavanaghIn fiction, character and plot are inseparable elements of craft. Without characters there can be no action or plot. In this short course you will learn how to create characters that can drive a narrative forward and deepen its themes.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £35.00 - Black British literature of the early twentieth centuryCourse start date: Sat 7 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Rebecca BalfourthDiscover Black British Literature in the twentieth century, featuring early work that has become part of the canon. Includes works by Samuel Selvon and Una Marson and an exploration of key themes and styles of narration for the literature of the period.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - The Bicycle Thieves at 75Course start date: Sun 8 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Graham RinaldiIn the inaugural 1952 Sight and Sound greatest film of all time poll, Vittorio De Sica’s neo-realist The Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) was voted in first place. Seventy-five years after its initial release, we will celebrate and analyse the film’s enduring popularity with both audiences and critics alike.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Poetry of the 30s: T.S. Eliot to Dylan ThomasCourse start date: Sun 8 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Phoebe BraithwaiteWedged between the two wars, the poets of the 1930s were drawn to forces larger than themselves. For poets such as W.H. Auden and Louis MacNeice, war, revolution and the allure of communism dwarfed mere personal anxieties. Others – such as William Empson, Kathleen Raine and Dylan Thomas – found a seam of spiritualism in other, more mystical, even Romantic antecedents. Our course traces these discrepant paths through the decade. - Autobiography into poetry
Course start date: Sun 8 Oct 2023Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah WardleLearn how to translate real-life experiences into powerful poems in this stimulating course for those interested in the meeting place between autobiography and poetry.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £35.00
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