Explore literature through the ages.

We've hand-picked a variety of English literature courses for you to choose from. Whether you are interested in twenty-first-century literature and culture, the tales of Babylon, or historical topics such as race and gender, we have a broad selection of literature that’s sure to suit a wide variety of tastes and interests.  

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You might be a newcomer to the world of literature and the great works of authors past and present, or perhaps you consider yourself somewhat of an expert. Whichever group you fall into, our friendly classes are the perfect environment to develop your skills and knowledge. Building on a curiosity or passion is what we do best! 

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Whether you prefer online learning from the comfort of your own home, or you want to attend an in-person class in your local community, we have a huge amount of flexibility to suit how you learn best. This means that you can pick the environment that’s right for you, giving you that piece of mind that you can learn in a place that you feel comfortable with. 

The support you’ll receive 

Our dedicated tutors will guide you through the different genres and time periods in English literature, helping you to develop your critical reading and analysis skills - perfect if you're a beginner.   

Our learning experience is one of the things that sets us apart, with many of our learners going on to achieve incredible things. You’ll learn at a pace that’s comfortable for you, with a friendly supportive tutor on hand to answer any questions you might have.  

Start your journey today and learn all about the works of Agatha Christie, Shakespeare and many, many more.  

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Literature: German Literature Post 1945

This course, composed of new texts, builds on similar courses on German literature given by Stephen Smith. Four novels and one poet will be analysed and placed in context over the 10 weeks’ duration of the course. The first text, The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, was actually written in 1938, but having recently been rediscovered, it is too good not to include. We will begin with this novel and then explore: Vertigo - WG Sebald. Lost - Hans Ulrich Treichel. Kairos - Jenny Erpenbeck. The Poetry of Durs Grunbein. The course will offer great scope for discussion of excellent texts, which are intellectually, imaginatively and emotional stimulating.

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 14/01/2025 -
Tue 25/03/2025
Times:
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stephen Smith
Course code:
Q00017914
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £74.00

Literature: Dutch Short Stories

This five week course will introduce you to an often neglected area of the European short story, this being stories from the Netherlands. Each of the five stories can be found in The Penguin Book of Dutch Short Stories, which is the text we will work from. The stories for consideration and analysis are: Young Titans - Nescio. The Sirens - Maria Dermout. The Portrait - Hella Haasse. Paula - Cees Nooteboom. Sunrise Day - Margriet De Moor. The course will involve lectures, discussions and advice on further research into the subject. Each session will dissect a narrative and relate its context, meaning and style.

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 14/01/2025 -
Tue 11/02/2025
Times:
4:00pm - 6:00pm
Duration:
5 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stephen Smith
Course code:
Q00017912
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £37.00

Literature: French Literature Post 1945

This ten week course ranges widely across postwar French literature and its themes and concerns. Stephen has discussed French literature before, but these texts are all previously untaught. The texts are: The Plague - Albert Camus. Memoirs of Hadrian - Marguerite Yourcenar. Missing Person - Patrick Modiano. Street of Thieves - Mathias Enard. Simple Passion - Annie Ernaux. These very different books will introduce us to disparate elements of the French psyche, and explore themes of identity, memory and displacement. The course will feature lectures, group discussions, close-reading and contextualisation of the historical moments pertinent to each writer and text. It will be provoking intellectually and imaginatively, and lively participation is encouraged.

Course Information

Dates:
Thu 16/01/2025 -
Thu 27/03/2025
Times:
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stephen Smith
Course code:
Q00017921
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £74.00

Literature: American Literature - On Land & Sea

This course will explore some of the classics of American Literature. You will study a range of poetry and prose by writers both ancient and modern, including Moby Dick by Herman Melville, My Ántonia by Willa Cather and other works by Maya Angelou and Cormac McCarthy. You will also explore how American Literature relates to other art forms, including film, photography and music.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 20/01/2025 -
Mon 17/03/2025
Times:
10:30am - 12:30pm
Duration:
9 sessions
Location:
Redruth Community Centre (Redruth)
Foundry Row
Chapel Street
Redruth
TR15 1AN
Tutor:
Mark Crees
Course code:
Q00016867
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £37.00

WEA Membership

For just £15 a year, you can:

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Just add us to your basket to sign up today!

Membership Information

Duration:
12 months
Fee:
£15

Literature: A Feast of Fiction (Part 2)

Continue your exploration of literature with our Literature: A Feast of Fiction (Part 2) course. Learn about key works and authors, and develop your literary analysis skills. Ideal for literature enthusiasts and anyone looking to deepen their understanding of fiction.

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 21/01/2025 -
Tue 01/04/2025
Times:
3:30pm - 5:30pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Redbridge Institute of Adult Education (
Gaysham Avenue
Gants Hill
Ilford
IG2 6TD
Tutor:
Brandon Robshaw
Course code:
Q00017557
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £100.00

Literature: Secrets of investigative journalism

If you wonder how people uncover information in the public interest that would usually remain in the dark, this course on investigative journalism is for you. This introductory course highlights the skills needed by investigative journalists when they conduct public interest investigations. Participants explore ways of reporting and editing stories, especially those which usually go unreported. The course will cover definitions of investigative journalism; how to find and plan an investigative story and which sources might be available. It gives a brief introduction to some of the legal and regulatory aspects of journalism.

Course Information

Dates:
Thu 30/01/2025 -
Thu 13/03/2025
Times:
10:30am - 12:30pm
Duration:
6 sessions
Location:
Hockliffe Street Baptist Church
33 Hockliffe Street
Leighton Buzzard
LU7 1EZ
Tutor:
Rebecca Eliahoo Charles
Course code:
Q00019164
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £50.40

Literature: Detective Fiction in Society and Culture

In these lectures Stephen Wilkinson will introduce students to the history of the detective genre and discuss its relationship to the development of capitalism, urbanisation and consumerist commodity culture. Students will be encouraged to read detective fiction as a prism through which societies, their anxieties and underlying psycho-political natures can be understood. Using the examples from the UK, US and Cuba students will gain an insight into the ways in which popular literature gives shape and form to our lives.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 24/02/2025 -
Mon 10/03/2025
Times:
10:30am - 12:30pm
Duration:
3 sessions
Location:
Friends Meeting House (Berkhamsted)
289 High Street
Berkhamsted
HP4 1AJ
Tutor:
Guest Speaker
Course code:
Q00018325
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £30.00

Literature: Six Classic Novels you can read in Six weeks

Each week we focus on a classic work of fiction, reading and discussing key passages. The texts include short novels which can be read in one week, and longer novels which we’ll study over two weeks. The course is organised chronologically and spans over 200 years, from the mid-19th century to modern times. We begin with Jane Eyre and end with Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. We’ll share and debate interpretations, sharpen our critical and appreciative faculties, understand what fiction can tell us about the society and culture that produced it, and, hopefully, be inspired to read other works by the writers featured on the course.

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 25/02/2025 -
Tue 01/04/2025
Times:
10:30am - 12:30pm
Duration:
6 sessions
Location:
Enfield Baptist Church (Enfield) (Enfiel
Cecil Road
Enfield
EN2 6TG
Tutor:
Brandon Robshaw
Course code:
Q00017423
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £72.00

Literature: Ann Radcliffe to Jane Austen - Female Gothic and Literary Homage

This short course will provide the opportunity to study two novels by female authors that are thoughly connected in the minds of many people despite being published 26 years apart by two very different authors. Throughout Northanger Abbey Jane Austen makes many references to Ann Radcliffe’s classic gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho. These two novels, then, are connected in the minds of many readers and this course will provide the opportunity of looking at these two novels side-by-side. We will begin with Radcliffe’s 1794 novel The Mysteries of Udolpho and then look at Austen’s much loved Northanger Abbey, published posthumously in 1817.

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 29/04/2025 -
Tue 10/06/2025
Times:
2:30pm - 4:30pm
Duration:
7 sessions
Location:
Exeter Community Centre (Exeter)
17 St. Davids Hill
Exeter
EX4 3RG
Tutor:
Greta Depledge
Course code:
Q00016876
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £50.40



The courses below have already started, but are still available to book.

Literature: Selected plays by Brian Friel

Plays of Brian Friel will be studied, read and workshopped. The group will discuss his stage devices and how his plays might be produced. We shall look at aspects of how he creates characters and tells epic stories on stage that resonate with current modern theatre audiences. His plays use intriguing theatrical metaphors and poetic structures to reflect on the ways in which Ireland has evolved, resisted and grown over its history. Friel’s writing produces powerful imagery on-stage that take audiences into the heart of the issues he explores. Over ten weeks, two to three plays will be discussed and workshopped to appreciate the various theatrical devices that Friel often uses.

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 17/09/2024 -
Tue 26/11/2024
Times:
10:00am - 12:00pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
The Greenleaf Centre (Walthamstow)
67-69 Greenleaf Road
Walthamstow
E17 6QP
Tutor:
Thomas Crowe
Course code:
Q00017604
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
6 places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £100.00

Literature: Representations of Childhood

From the most idealised to the most troubled narratives, childhood has consistently been a source of inspiration in literature. In this course, we will be considering how a range of authors represent childhood, the themes that connect with this idea, and how different contexts have changed how childhood is portrayed. Through our discussions, we will be analysing texts across different genres, reflecting on the questions and challenges that writers face when representing this profoundly influential stage in life.

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 17/09/2024 -
Tue 26/11/2024
Times:
1:30pm - 3:30pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Clare Jackson
Course code:
Q00017743
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
In progress
Fee range
Free to £74.00