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.
- Spanish beginners: module 1+2Course start date: Thu 2 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Cristina CasadoLearn Spanish on this intensive course for beginners, with the emphasis on listening and speaking skills. Suitable for complete beginners. Based on units 1-6 of Nos Vemos Hoy 1 Compacto (Campus Difusión Publishing). Please see the Are there any other costs? section below for details about the book and the ISBN.
Full fee £329.00 Senior fee £329.00 Concession £214.00 - Shakespeare's Women: Hamlet, Macbeth and As You Like ItCourse start date: Thu 2 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sophie OxenhamThis Literature course will look at three of Shakespeare’s female characters: Rosalind (As You Like It), Ophelia (Hamlet) and Lady Macbeth (Macbeth). We will consider their wit, madness and ambition, exploring Shakespeare’s language, the historical context, and the plays in performance.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Queens of Crime: Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. SayersCourse start date: Thu 2 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: William BradyAgatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers dominated the inter-war Golden Age of British detective fiction and continue to this day to beguile and enthral readers with their intricate plotting, fiendish twists and formidable detectives. This course critically explores how both authors shaped the detective genre, the publishing history of some of their most celebrated works, and how Christie and Sayers navigated themes of class, gender, morality and justice. Through selected readings, discussions and analysis, we will explore the literary significance and enduring appeal of these Queens of Crime.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00 - Exploring literature: an introduction to prose and poetryCourse start date: Thu 2 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Kate WilkinsonThis course introduces you to a range of prose and poetry from the nineteenth century to the present. Learn about how poems work, both ‘on the page’ and as spoken words. Reading novels and short stories, we’ll explore characterisation, the social and historical contexts of the works and writers’ techniques. Come and discover what’s distinctive about different forms of literature.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00 - Colour in medieval art
Course start date: Thu 2 Oct 2025Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Andreas PetzoldColour is an all pervasive and fundamental aspect of medieval art, but one that is largely neglected in art historical studies.This course looks at some of the main themes relating to colour such as symbolism, materials, theory and key developments.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - 1960s LondonCourse start date: Thu 2 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Blended (learn both online and in-person)
Explore the dynamic history of London in the 1960s. From pop culture to politics, immigration to education we will look at the changing face of the capital through a decade of transformation.
Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00 - Spanish rápidamente: module 1Course start date: Thu 2 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
This intensive Spanish course is suitable if you already speak a romance language like Italian, French, Portuguese or Romanian, or if you want to learn at a much faster pace. Suitable for beginners. Based on 'Aula Internacional Plus 1' (Nueva Edición, Difusión Publishers).
Please do not buy the book until after the first session, as if you transfer to a regular beginners course you will use a different book.Full fee £259.00 Senior fee £259.00 Concession £168.00 - City Lit contemporary collage projects 1Course start date: Thu 2 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
City Lit contemporary collage projects 1 initiates a year-long set of collage and mixed media projects designed to experiment with and examine the interplay between the two and three dimensions. You will work with a wide range of materials, on and off the wall, extending our pictorial practice into the realm of collage, painting, drawing, assemblage, bricolage, decoupage, photomontage, small scale constructions, printing and text within the context of mixed media.
Note* the course is designed in a way to enable students to either complete all three courses over the year or to come in at any stage in no particular order.Full fee £839.00 Senior fee £671.00 Concession £545.00 - Design your own garden Course start date: Fri 3 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Alison WorsterDesign your own garden and turn your valuable outside space into a private sanctuary. On this online course you will discover how to create a secluded garden using considered layout, landscaping and planting to create an extension of your home. - City Lit Pro: Improving your Customer Experience Course start date: Fri 3 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ketan VariaDo you understand the end to end journey of your customer? Can you comprehend what your customers are feeling and thinking as they use your service?Full fee £279.00 Senior fee £223.00 Concession £181.00 - Poetry of the Troubles: Seamus Heaney and his ContemporariesCourse start date: Fri 3 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lewis WardOn this in-college literature course we will read Seamus Heaney’s North (1975), his first collection to deal explicitly with the Troubles in Northern Ireland, alongside poems on the same theme by contemporaries including Michael Longley, Seamus Deane and Derek Mahon. - ITEC Level 3 Diploma in Sports Massage Therapy Course start date: Mon 12 May 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Kean Street Wellbeing Centre
Tutors: Alex BrennanStart your training to become a qualified Sports and Remedial Massage Therapist with our ITEC Level 3 Diploma in Sports Massage. This course is designed for those with no prior massage qualification. This course provides you with the qualification and training required to work as a Professional Sports Massage Therapist at level 3, this course also enables you to progress onto the Level 4 Certificate in Sports Massage.
The Free Courses for Jobs initiative is for Londoners aged 24 or over at the start of the course who are: on a low-income; or on certain benefits; or do not have a full level 3 qualification. For more information Click here
The course fee is £1409.00 payable at the time of your enrolment. If you are unable to pay the course fees, you can choose to apply for an Advanced Learner Loan from Student Finance England (SFE) to help cover the course fee, repayable after the course ends. You can find more information about the Advanced Learner Loan www.citylit.ac.uk/advanced-learner-loans
For more information, please call Health & Wellbeing on 020 8142 4577.Full fee £1,409.00 Senior fee £1,409.00 Concession £1,409.00 - Writing an academic essay Course start date: Fri 3 Oct 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: William BradyA crash course in essay writing – beginnings, middles and ends. Suitable for students on A-level and access courses or undergraduates.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £60.00 - Masters of Cinema: Claire DenisCourse start date: Sat 4 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
This course will consider Claire Denis’ importance as a filmmaker by exploring in some detail a number of her key films from Chocolat (1988), I can’t sleep (1994), Beau Travail (1999), White material (2009), and High Life (2018). Claire Denis’ transnational postcolonial work, from Djibouti, South Africa to multi-ethnic France, deals with themes of migration, human desires and fears. Her films are renowned for being filmed mainly on location, for playing with many cinematic genres and languages and they are internationally acclaimed.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Introduction to programming Course start date: Sat 4 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Roden DerveniThis is a beginner's course designed for anyone who wants to dip their toes into the exciting world of programming and see what all the fuss is about. Perfect if you want to make your first step in learning any of the programming languages at City Lit.
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