Culture, history & humanities

Explore Culture, History & Humanities Courses

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. Contemporary cinema: the best films of the year
    Evening
    Course start date:  Mon 6 Jan 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  John Wischmeyer
    This crucial course on contemporary cinema coincides with the sheer variety of films released immediately before BAFTA /Academy Awards season. Join a community of cinephiles to discuss and debate your favourite films of the past year and compile a list—The List of Best Films—added to and modified as new films are released each week. Students become critics in an ongoing class conversation, some even sharing their inner-geek in a guilt-free environment. As we meet on Mondays, some students extend the day by going to the special price Monday Matinees at several neighbourhood cinemas. Whether you call it homework or dedication, that’s entertainment!
    Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £229.00 Concession £149.00
    Rating:
    96% of 100
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  2. Ways into creative writing
    Evening
    Course start date:  Mon 13 Jan 2025 (and 10 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Rosie Chard
    Want to have a go at creative writing in a supportive environment? Join one of these introductory courses. Guided exercises will give you the tools to explore language creatively and find your own writing voice.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £120.00
    Rating:
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  3. Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £249.00 Concession £162.00
    Rating:
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  4. Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £120.00
    Rating:
    94% of 100
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  5. Cultureplex ciné-club 2
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 16 Jan 2025 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Paul Sutton
    Come and join us at the Cultureplex Ciné-Club 2, where once a week, for 10 weeks (and throughout the academic



    year), we will watch and discuss film. Taking its cue from the famous Parisian ciné-club set up by the celebrated critic and writer, André Bazin, ‘the single thinker most responsible for bestowing on cinema the prestige both of an artform and of an object of knowledge’, and the man who foresaw the emergence of film studies as a legitimate discipline of academic study, our contemporary incarnation of the film club will offer a curated series of films for detailed study, discussion and debate. Each film will be introduced, placed in both its cinematic, cultural and historic context. 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.







    Please note that this course will screen a new and different set of films to HF211 Cultureplex Cine-Club, which will run with the same films screened last year. If you took the Cultureplex Cine-Club course last year (2023-4), please ensure that you take the Cultureplex Cine-Club 2 courses this year.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £249.00 Concession £162.00
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  6. Ways into poetry
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 16 Jan 2025 (and 4 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Claire Collison
    Relatively new to writing poetry? This inspiring course offers an opportunity to experiment with language and a variety of poetic devices alongside fellow emerging poets. Discover the key elements of a poem in a friendly and interactive class.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £120.00
    Rating:
    94% of 100
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  7. Anthropology of Art, Film and Photography
    Evening
    Course start date:  Mon 20 Jan 2025

    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 £249.00 Senior fee £249.00 Concession £162.00
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  8. Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £229.00 Concession £149.00
    Rating:
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  9. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: part 4
    Evening
    Course start date:  Mon 20 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Hugo Cook
    Improve your ability to read texts in hieroglyphs and gain (or continue to gain) a deeper understanding of ancient Egyptian literature and culture. Suitable for those who have completed part 3 of the hieroglyphs course but also for those who have attended the same course in previous years.
    Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £209.00 Concession £136.00
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  10. Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £120.00
    Rating:
    85% of 100
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  11. African philosophy
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 22 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Ovett Nwosimiri
    This course is an introduction to African philosophy. We will analyse the various positions and contestations regarding the nature, and trends in African philosophy, debate on communitarianism and personhood, African ethics, ubuntu, and decolonisation of knowledge.



    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 £229.00 Concession £149.00
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  12. Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £249.00 Concession £162.00
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  13. Who were the ancient Greeks?
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 23 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Sean Gabb
    The Greeks are perhaps the exceptional people of the Ancient World. They were not saints: they were at least as willing as anyone else to engage in aggressive wars, enslavement, and sometimes human sacrifice. At the same time, working without any strong outside inspiration, they provided at least the foundations for the science, mathematics, philosophy, art and secular literature of later peoples.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £209.00 Concession £136.00
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  14. Gothic language: level 1
    Evening
    Course start date:  Wed 29 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Stephen Pollington
    Learn the basics of the ancient language spoken by the Goths, the ancient Germanic population from Scandinavia who settled in North-Eastern and Eastern Europe.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £209.00 Concession £136.00
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  15. Anthropology of space, place and the cultural landscape
    Evening
    Course start date:  Mon 28 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Yasmin Hales
    This is an introductory and interdisciplinary course which ranges beyond social anthropology to explore aspects of cultural geography, philosophy, psychology, art and architectural history, enriching your theoretical and ethnographic understanding of the cross cultural meaning of space within the built environment.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £249.00 Concession £162.00
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