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 >
See what it's like be part a City Lit online creative writing course.
- Drawing: a contemporary approach
Course start date: Fri 11 Jul 2025 (and 2 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sam HannerTake your drawing in exciting new directions – build on existing skills and discover new ways of working. A chance to extend your own drawing projects guided by our expert tutor and practising artist, with reference to the work of artists using drawing in the wider art world today.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00 - Life writing: getting started Course start date: Mon 16 Jun 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Alice RobbThis inspiring workshop encourages students to explore a range of techniques and approaches for writing about your own life.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £40.00 - Acting for radio: Theatre CompanyCourse start date: Fri 31 Oct 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: David GoodersonBecome part of a radio repertory company and take part in creating and recording for broadcast a performance of scenes from Arthur Wing Pinero's The Magistrate. For those with previous experience in acting and radio, either through courses or industry. Please click on Start Your Interview to apply; the Drama Department will contact you to progress your application.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £229.00 Concession £160.00 - Refugee Week at City Lit: the refugee figure in the 20th centuryCourse start date: Fri 20 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Martin JorgensenJoin us to explore the changes in the figure of the refugee as events made people who become refugees a figure in global politics over the course of the 20th century as part of Refugee Week at City Lit.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £8.00 Concession £7.00 - Friday lates: Text as image from the Renaissance to nowCourse start date: Fri 20 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayWhat happens when word becomes image? From Chinese calligraphy to the prints of Francisco Goya, the graffitied phrases of Jean-Michel Basquiat and truisms of Jenny Holzer, this short course explores how to read text as image. We'll explore how we might read differently in the context of an artwork and how to approach artworks that rely on text as part of their visual composition.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - Refugee Week at City Lit: political refugees and exiles in Latin America during the Cold WarCourse start date: Fri 20 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Maria Vasquez-AguilarJoin this session to understand how political refugees and exiles are central to understanding Latin America during the Cold War, and their arrival to the UK. This course is part of City Lit’s Refugee Week events.
Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £7.00 - Screen printing studio projects Course start date: Fri 20 Jun 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Adam HogarthDevelop your screen-printing in this weekly taught workshop where you will be shown new techniques, from using halftones and photo processes, layering colour, stenciling and experimental techniques to printing on textiles and professional practice.Full fee £429.00 Senior fee £343.00 Concession £279.00 - Sampling, beat-making and synth programming Course start date: Tue 24 Jun 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Max La VillaLearn to create your own more original tracks by recording and manipulating samples, beats and synth sounds to individualise your sound.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £179.00 - Christopher and his Kind: Christopher Isherwood in BerlinCourse start date: Fri 27 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Jake PollerThe experience of living in Berlin in the early 1930s had a transformative effect on the life and work of Christopher Isherwood. In this course, we will discuss Isherwood’s masterpiece, Goodbye to Berlin (1939), and his autobiography Christopher and His Kind (1976), which reveals the real people behind the characters of Sally Bowles and Otto Nowak, and shines a light on the queer culture of Berlin Isherwood was unable to write about in the 1930s.Full fee £49.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £32.00 - Elena Ferrante Course start date: Fri 27 Jun 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Elena Ferrante is the author of the Neapolitan novel series, whose global success has established her as one of the most powerful voices of contemporary world literature. Her identity, however, is still one of the greatest mysteries in modern literature. In this workshop we will explore why the novels have attracted such interest and passion and we will look at the various hypotheses advanced in the Italian and foreign press as to her real identity.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Communication with older people with a hearing loss Course start date: Fri 27 Jun 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lorraine BragginsThe course will cover the features of age-related hearing loss and how these relate to what, and how, older people hear and understand. Participants will learn communication strategies so that older people can understand them better.
This course will be taught in spoken English and not in sign language.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £69.00 - Painting 2 Course start date: Thu 1 May 2025 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tony HullBuilding on techniques and approaches covered in the Painting 1, this course enables you to work with more depth and a stronger emphasis on experimentation. This is suitable if you already have some experience in painting.Full fee £429.00 Senior fee £343.00 Concession £279.00 - Screen printing workshop Course start date: Mon 30 Jun 2025 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: David HolahThis course is a creative and practical introduction to the screen-printing process, aimed at beginners and the curious. You will learn step by step how to make your own series of silk screen prints using a variety of techniques.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00 - Art history taster Course start date: Tue 1 Jul 2025 (and 7 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayCurious about art history? Join us for this taster session where we explore different ways into visual art and its histories from the ancient to the contemporary.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £10.00 - Edvard Munch: beyond the ScreamCourse start date: Fri 4 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Online
This session on Edvard Munch aims to give a fuller picture of the Norwegian artist’s creative legacy. To do so we will shed light on lesser-known works and aspects of his career. Munch’s art will appear immensely personal, and biographical, but also deeply connected to the cultural context in fin-de-siecle Europe.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00
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