Courses - Online & in London
Thousands of online and in-person courses available to book online now!
Whether you want to try something new, revive your passion, or take your skills to the next level; we have a huge range of courses for you to explore. Discover Languages, Art & Design, Drama, Music & Dance, Technology & Business, Writing, British Sign Language and much more!
All our courses here at City Lit are taught by expert tutors such as published authors, academics, practising artists, and experienced professionals. Our friendly, supportive, and inspiring tutors are here to boost your confidence and motivate you at every step. We always ensure that your journey with us is enjoyable, positive, and thought-provoking.
We offer online courses and in-person courses. Our interactive online courses are taught live and in small groups. Read our guide to online learning for more information. In-person courses are delivered at our modern college campus in London near Covent Garden.
Please use the filters on this page to search by subject, location/delivery mode, time of day, price and more to ensure you find the perfect course for you.
If you can't decide which subject to study, why not try some of our short taster courses?
- British literature of the 1980s: the Granta generationCourse start date: Tue 30 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lewis WardWho were considered the ‘Best of Young British Novelists’ in 1983, and what became of them? What do their styles and topics reveal about the decade, looking back from 40 years on? Read extracts by all twenty writers plus novels by Pat Barker, Graham Swift and Julian Barnes.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00 - French and Russian literatureCourse start date: Tue 30 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Richard NilandExplore classic texts of 19th century French and Russian literature, discussing literary style, themes, and contexts as a way of developing and sharing responses to celebrated European writing. Among the French writers examined will be Stendhal, Baudelaire, Flaubert and Rimbaud, with our Russians including Pushkin, Lemontov, and Tolstoy.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - The detective in popular modern crime fictionCourse start date: Tue 14 May 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Christine HawkinsWhat sells crime novels? Does knowing about the detective's other life make readers appreciate or rate their detective skills more? Why does the figure of the male detective remain so dominant in the genre, especially given that many of the texts are by female authors? We will analyse and the discuss the development of the male detective figure in recent crime fiction, including 'A certain Justice' by P.D. James, 'In the Woods' by Tana French and 'Career of Evil' by Robert Galbraith.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00 - Reading BrexLit: three novelsCourse start date: Tue 14 May 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Kate WilkinsonThe 2016 referendum result was one of the most significant events in recent British history. How can novels, written in that moment, shed light on the run-up to the vote and its immediate aftermath?
On this course we’ll study three fascinating and powerful novels, by Ali Smith, Anthony Cartwright and Adam Thorpe, exploring their stories and the backdrop they present of Britain’s divisions and connections.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00 - The City in Literature: freedom and flappers in the bohemian cityCourse start date: Tue 25 Jun 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Join us to explore three works of life writing set in Paris and Berlin between the wars, where café culture, the adventure of the streets, bohemian life, and nocturnal temptations offer opportunities for artistic, personal, and sexual freedom. Set in post-WW1 Paris and pre-WW2 Berlin, writers, artists, and adventurers find themselves entangled within the moving fabric of unpredictable social and political changes. Writers include Ernest Hemingway, Jean Rhys and Christopher Isherwood.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00 - Great European Short StoriesCourse start date: Tue 24 Sep 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Julian BirkettThe short story in Europe has characteristics all of its own. While British, Irish and American stories are rooted in psychological realism, many European writers have tended towards a more philosophical approach, reflecting the concerns of the modern age as experienced by the sensibilities of individual writers. Authors such as Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka and Albert Camus are masters of the kinds of tale which ask profound question about the nature of our existence. They are also supreme stylists capable of sustaining a gripping narrative. - Memoir Fiction: Karl Ove Knausgaard, Martin Amis, Philip RothCourse start date: Tue 24 Sep 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lewis WardWe will discuss questions of memory, history and genre through readings of three fascinating examples of ‘memoir fiction’: Karl Ove Knausgaard’s A Death in the Family, Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, and Martin Amis’ Inside Story.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00 - Writing from Life: memoir, autofiction, novelsCourse start date: Tue 24 Sep 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Kate WilkinsonWhat do we want and expect from life stories? On this online literature course we’ll read a selection of fascinating books and extracts, which experiment in different ways to combine stories of personal experience and literary invention. As well as memoirs the course includes ‘autofiction’ – a description for the work of novelists whose material is, explicitly, their own life – and we’ll explore this tricky and sometimes controversial category of writing. We’ll think too about some of the ethical and cultural questions that writing from life can raise, including privacy and a right of reply, and think about factors that may affect a book’s critical reception.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00 - It Can't Happen Here: Sinclair Lewis, Philip Roth, Muriel SparkCourse start date: Tue 24 Sep 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Alexander Fairbairn-DixonExplore three ground-breaking works of ‘speculative’ prose fiction, each offering a highly innovative examination of C20 American political populism. From bitter satire, unnerving dystopia, to the lightly comic, we’ll see how the texts embody genuine anxieties of authoritarianism in America. Surely,- ‘it can’t happen here’?Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - The History of the Irish short story: from early Joyce to Claire KeeganCourse start date: Tue 23 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Richard NilandThe short story has come to be seen as one of Irish Literature’s most celebrated forms of expression. From the early stories of George Moore and James Joyce, to modern classics by John McGahern, William Trevor and Claire Keegan, the short story has allowed Irish writers to pick apart the complexities of Irish society in powerful, precise and poetic terms. This course will explore some of the most iconic short stories of twentieth-century Irish literature.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00
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