Adult Courses

This course is suitable for previous attendees and newcomers alike. As a continuation from last year, the tutor will present further poems by William Butler Yeats and Seamus Heaney while introducing you to a selection of writing from Roddy Doyle and Paula Meehan. This, together with back copies of The Sunday Times Magazine's, 'A Life in the Day' interview will form a...

Thomas Hardy and Philip Larkin, two of the best-loved poets in English literature, complement each other beautifully. For many years, revered as a novelist only, Hardy's poetry is now highly regarded. His present reputation owes much to Larkin's advocacy. Both writers were melancholic, even misogynistic and yet produced some of the most heart-stopping love poetry of all time. They were both extremely...

Have you read articles in newspapers, magazines or newsletters and wished that you could not only write like that but get paid to do so? On this practical course for beginners, you will discover the basic skills needed to write news and features from a professional Fleet Street journalist. You will explore how these stories begin and finally end up on...

On this course, play reading may lead to role playing, maybe hesitantly, maybe with panache! Your backdrop is Shakespeare's universal portrayals of love and doubt, joy and foolishness, friendship and gulling, jealousy, rivalry, hatred, cruelty and murderous envy. Extracts are provided from Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Winter's Tale and Romeo and Juliet. Offstage and uninvited, Hamlet may wait...

A sublime poem by the great Romantic, The Prelude is an autobiographical work, which evolves from Wordsworth's metaphor that life is a journey whose end is 'to arrive where we started'. The epic blank verse has universal themes, including love, joy, fear, 'spots of time' and how childhood shapes the way we perceive the world. The poet moves from his depression at...

Quick Fiction, sometimes known as Flash Fiction, is a very short piece of writing of around 300 words. It could just be a written image, a memory or perhaps a thought that has been on your mind for a while. As a starting point for writing your own Quick Fiction, you will be turning to your favourite literary characters for inspiration....

On this course, you will be delving into Tell Me the Truth About Life, the official collection to celebrate the 25th anniversary of National Poetry Day in 2019. One of the strengths of this anthology is that there is something for everybody, whether you are experienced or new to poetry. Selected by a wide range of famous and unknown people and curated...

The Odyssey is a work of Western literature that almost everyone knows something about but few have actually read. Odysseus' escape from the Cyclops, his surviving the deadly call of the Sirens and Penelope's tricking of her suitors have become part of our common culture. The Odyssey is a foundational work. Yet, what does it have to say to the modern reader?...

As Mayou Angelou once said, 'Poetry can tell us what human beings are. It can tell us why we stumble and fall and how, miraculously, we can stand up'. Through inspiring examples and exciting exercises, this course will give you a taste of the best and most uplifting contemporary poetry and help you develop your own writing voice and practice. You will...

In the words of T.S. Eliot, 'We had the experience, but missed the meaning.' Writing your own story is a wonderfully healing and fulfilling process. Whether it is for your family, publication or just for yourself, a memoir can help make sense of your experience and provide an opportunity to reflect on the deeper meaning of your life. On this safe, supportive...

Comedy, tragedy and tragicomedy. Who could ask for anything more? During this course, you will read together as a group, August Strindberg's Creditors as translated by Howard Brenton, Noël Coward's Private Lives and After the Dance by Terence Rattigan. These plays, written between 1888 and 1939, are a classical portrayal of secrets, lies, seduction, power and passion. To enrich your reading, you...

This course is a celebration of classical writers, from Homer and Hesiod, through to the earliest historians, dramatic playwrights and philosophical geniuses and into the Golden Age of imperial Roman poets, writers and historians. The Silver Age and beyond will take you to the Classical authors' impact on Christian and Renaissance writings. The tutor will share the exciting narrative of ancient literature...