Writing Courses & Workshops Online & in London
Be inspired to write, and learn how to get published at the college where Andrea Levy, Malorie Blackman, Anna Burns, and other celebrated authors studied. Read our success stories to see what's possible for you as a writer.
Learn from published authors
Whether you're just starting out or ready to publish your first book, the benefits of our writing courses include expert tuition from a published author and feedback on your work as you develop your writing skills. There will also be opportunities to participate in group discussions and activities with fellow students.
Unheard Voices Scholarship
City Lit’s Malorie Blackman Scholarships for 'Unheard Voices' provide three annual awards to fund one year’s study within the Creative Writing department at City Lit. Learn more >
- Hitchcock's Horror Thrillers 2: The Birds, scene by sceneCourse start date: Sun 5 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jon WisbeyHitchcock's The Birds (1963), sees the director exploring a familiar theme: the 'romantic couple' tested by suspenseful events. But unlike his glossy 1950s hits, Hitchcock opts for muted visuals and performances in an unflinching examination of femininity under threat and masculine cruelty, framed by a dystopian revenge of nature narrative. Explore the master's last great film, scene by scene.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Advanced painting: practice and discourseCourse start date: Mon 6 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Blended (learn both online and in-person)
Tutors: Clare Barton-Harvey, Michael Harding, Stuart Jones, Mario Lautier Vella, Joe Richardson, Benjamin Senior, Ian TucknottDevelop your painting in greater depth on this advanced course, working with a team of artist-tutors and a committed network of peer-practitioners, across a set of projects focusing on a range of contemporary themes, processes, and debates. The course is intended for experienced painters with a positive and enquiring attitude to the practices and discourses of painting in its various forms, and a commitment to peer-dialogue and critical discussion. Focused and intensive studio-based weekend projects (once per month), are interspersed with weekly online tutorials, feedback, discussion and seminars.Full fee £2,649.00 Senior fee £2,119.00 Concession £1,854.00 - Advanced graphic designCourse start date: Mon 6 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Andrew McCartenThis course will help you improve your skills in graphic design and visual communications in their broadest sense, for delivery or publication in print and online, working with text, image, layout, medium and message across a range of physical and digital media and formats.
It is ideal for anyone who has already completed our City Lit graphics course, and for anyone wishing to build a more extensive and professional portfolio of graphics work, whilst developing a deeper understanding of the connection between text, image, message and media.
Confirmed industry specialist guests: Lydia Thornley, Designer, Creative Director and Reportage Illustrator and award winning film producer/director Mark Craig, maker of the film “The Last Man On The Moon”.Full fee £2,549.00 Senior fee £2,039.00 Concession £1,784.00 - Physics: from particles to the universe and beyondCourse start date: Mon 6 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Gary RetallickExplore fundamental aspects of physics such as the nature of light, matter and energy and the physical laws governing our universe. Learn about the revolutionary discoveries of the world around us.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00 - Reflecting the Nation: 21st Century British Drama & SocietyCourse start date: Mon 6 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
This course explores how dramatists use their position as commentators to reflect the societal and political issues affecting the nation. Drawing on texts by Laura Wade, Jez Butterworth, Roy Williams and others, we’ll discuss how issues such as class, national identity, queer and black lives, and activism have been interrogated by Britain’s finest contemporary playwrights.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00 - Spanish 3 conversationCourse start date: Thu 15 May 2025 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Roberto GallegoRevise, consolidate and improve your listening and speaking skills on this lively course, which will help you communicate more confidently in daily life situations. Ideal if you have an intermediate level of Spanish, are doing 'Spanish 3 lower', 'Spanish 3 upper' or have an equivalent level (B1 level).Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £84.00 - Contemporary printmaking studio: focus on colourCourse start date: Tue 7 Oct 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Kath CastilloA course for intermediate and experienced printmakers wanting to build on previous experience and experiment with process to consolidate and hone technical skills. The focus is on colour application, advanced intaglio processes, realising personal projects and the production of high quality prints.Full fee £449.00 Senior fee £359.00 Concession £292.00 - Contemporary practice: personal projectCourse start date: Tue 7 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Blended (learn both online and in-person)
Tutors: Ian TucknottOn this course you will develop your creativity, your personal artistic understanding, and a body of contemporary art work at an advanced level through the experimental exploration of a personal project. The course is facilitated by practicing artists and theorists, who will support you through guided critical and creative research, experimental workshops, critical studies, studio practice and tutorials. - Argonautica: reading group (in translation) module 1Course start date: Tue 7 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Nikoletta Manioti.Full fee £159.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £103.00 - Advanced children's book illustration: professional practiceCourse start date: Tue 7 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tim Ellis, Zehra Hicks, Dee ShulmanInterested in a career in Children’s Book Illustration, or advancing your practice to the next level? With the guidance and support of your tutors, you will have the opportunity to engage with experienced industry professionals, and develop your practice and personal visual vocabulary to a professional standard.
Visitors on previous years have included:
- Davinia Andrew-Lynch, Curtis Browne Agency
- Helen Chapman, Art director Penguin Random House, Bloomsbury, Little Tiger Press, DK & Penguin
- Rebecca Garrill Art Director Andersen Press
- Margaret Hope, art director MacMillan Books
- Anne McNeill, Editorial director Random House and Penguin books
- Rachel Petty, former editorial director Macmillan Children's Books, currently author/illustrator agent at the Blair Partnership
- Arabella Stein, Managing Director, Bright Agency
- Millie Van Grutten RCW Literary Agency. - Extended drawing for artists and makersCourse start date: Wed 8 Oct 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Annie Attridge, Clare Barton-Harvey, Ruth Brison, Tony Hull, Claire Hynds, Monika Kita, Ute Kreyman, Mario Lautier Vella, Faith VincentA multi-disciplinary course that will help broaden your skills and experience. Record, imagine, visualise, transform,
narrate and develop through a series of practical projects. This exciting course is designed to help you place drawing at the centre of your chosen artistic discipline.
This course requires a pre-enrolment application. Please click 'Start Assessment' on the right-hand side of this page to start your application.Full fee £1,649.00 Senior fee £1,319.00 Concession £1,154.00 - An introduction to art historyCourse start date: Wed 8 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Thomas BalfeArt history is much more than decoding secrets and symbols. It is about critical thinking and empathy, understanding how an artwork reflects an artist’s interpretation of their world, and what it says to you about our world now. This course is designed to build your confidence in understanding visual art of the Western tradition. It is designed for both the absolute beginner and those with some existing art historical knowledge.Full fee £259.00 Senior fee £259.00 Concession £168.00 - Angela Carter: ‘A Different Kind of Human Being’ -Course start date: Wed 8 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Fiona McCullochThis course will introduce and discuss the fiction of renowned author, Angela Carter, specifically focusing upon one novel and one short story. Carter wanted her writing to ‘demythologise the fictions that regulate our lives’, to explore how society narrates us into being and holds us there. In doing so, she offers us a chance to read and, ultimately, release ourselves through her work, as we come to understand the relationship between fiction and reality. For Carter, both of these – fiction and reality – are two sides of the same coin.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £84.00 - French DELF B2Course start date: Wed 9 Oct 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Pierre PorcheronThis online course will prepare you for the exam of the 'Diplôme d'études en langue française' (DELF), B2 level, in June 2025. Suitable if you have studied French for about four to five years. Ideal if you would like to live, study or work in France.
Please note that exam fees are not included in the advertised fees. The course can be paid in instalments.
Term dates:
Term 1: 09/10/2024 - 11/12/2024
Term 2: 15/01/2025 - 09/04/2025
Term 3: 30/04/2025 - 15/06/2025
There will be a minimum of two mock exams per term.Full fee £639.00 Senior fee £639.00 Concession £415.00 - Spanish preparation for DELE B2Course start date: Wed 8 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Prepare for the 'Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera B2'. The course does not include exam fees and each learner will be responsible for their own enrolment in the exam. Please note that you should have studied Spanish for about 5 years or have an equivalent level.
Please do not buy the book until after the first session, as if you transfer to another course, you will use a different book.Full fee £649.00 Senior fee £649.00 Concession £422.00
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