Explore History, Culture & Writing

Discover the mysterious people who lived in Central Italy and ended up being enveloped by the Romans.

Come and join us at the Cultureplex Ciné-Club: Agnes Varda, where for one day only, we will watch and discuss a film directed by this iconic and influential filmmaker. A development from our existing Cultureplex Ciné-Club courses and taking its cue from the famous Parisian Ciné-club set up by the celebrated critic and writer, André Bazin, this incarnation of the film club will offer an opportunity not only to have a taste of what the full Cine-Club course (running throughout next year) has to offer, but it will also allow for the viewing of a Varda film, followed by detailed discussion and debate. The film will be introduced, placed in both its cinematic, cultural and historic context as well as being situated within Varda’s body of work. In sharing our viewing in City Lit’s premier screening room, the Cultureplex, we will approximate the experience of watching film in the cinema, one that is intense and fully focussed in a way that other modes of viewing often are not. After the screening we will devote the rest of the class to a collective exploration of the film, led by the tutor, but involving everyone in a participatory discussion that will allow all to express their responses, their views, their thoughts on the film screened.

Spend four weeks in the company of two of the greatest voices in American Poetry, up close and across the whole range of their outputs - poems, letters, fiction, children’s stories, envelopes, visual art, herbarium – paying attention to the personal and social circumstances that made their work possible and each woman’s bid for creative freedom so exemplary.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Founded in 1600, by the 1800s the East India Company had laid the foundations for the transition to British crown rule in India in 1858. Join us to discover key events in the history of the EIC in India – why did ‘John Company’ become so influential and how did Indian Nawabs and Mughal Emperors resist its seemingly ever-expanding powers?

Explore the work of Renaissance master Raphael through his highly polished artistic process. Get to know how the artist came to be known by his contemporaries as a person showered by the ‘infinite riches of heaven’.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Have a taste of exploring the ancient Athenian stage, and how they still speak to us about the challenges we face today.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

This course explores Mary Shelley’s iconic novel, Frankenstein. We will consider the novel’s literary, socio-political, philosophical, and scientific contexts, alongside thinking about its narrative themes and techniques. We’ll also touch upon its rich ‘afterlife’, thinking about some of the ways the novel has been reimagined in later adaptations, and asking why this story continues to have such resonance today.

Follow 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.