Lecture 1 of 3, live online. In this year of Christopher Nolan’s new film of the Odyssey, join us with expert Dr Jan Parker to study Homer’s great work of storytelling.

Jane Austen’s Families. Lecture 3 of 4. Live online lectures and seminars, fortnightly, with Tom Zille, University of Cambridge.

Lecture 3. Distant Relations: Mansfield Park (1814)

Lecture 5 of 5 on Iris Murdoch and the Natural World with Miles Leeson. We study five great novels by Murdoch, March - May 2026.

Set reading:

The Unicorn 
The Sea, The Sea
Nuns and Soldiers
The Good Apprentice
The Message to the Planet

Lecture 2 of 3, live online. In this year of Christopher Nolan’s new film of the Odyssey, join us with expert Dr Jan Parker to study Homer’s great work of storytelling.

Virginia Woolf Season 2025-26: Woolf’s Rooms. Lecture 9. Trudi Tate on Rooms in The Years (1937).

Lecture 3 of 3, live online. In this year of Christopher Nolan’s new film of the Odyssey, join us with expert Dr Jan Parker to study Homer’s great work of storytelling.

Toni Morrison. Lecture 1 of 4: The Bluest Eye. Live online lectures and seminars, fortnightly, with Alex Calder, University of Cambridge.

Jane Austen’s Families. Lecture 4 of 4. Live online lectures and seminars, fortnightly, with Tom Zille, University of Cambridge.

Lecture 4. The Smooth Surface of Family Union: Persuasion (1818)

Toni Morrison. Lecture 2 of 4. Song of Solomon. Live online lectures and seminars, fortnightly, with Alex Calder, University of Cambridge.

Join us for a one-off lecture and discussion of the poetry of Iris Murdoch Miles Leeson, who has just co-edited a new Selected Poems 1936-95 of Iris Murdoch.

Available from:
Bookshop.org.uk: in the UK.

Toni Morrison. Lecture 3 of 4. Beloved (1987). Live online lectures and seminars, fortnightly, with Alex Calder, University of Cambridge.

Trudi Tate on HD’s fictional memoir of her life in London during the First World War. Part of our series Lectures for Peace. All proceeds go to charities working for peace and for refugees. Details on the Lectures for Peace page.

Toni Morrison. Lecture 4 of 4. Jazz (1992). Live online lectures and seminars, fortnightly, with Alex Calder, University of Cambridge.

Virginia Woolf Season 2025-26: Woolf’s Rooms. Lecture 10. Ellie Mitchell on Rooms in The Waves (1931).

Join us for two x two-hourly sessions, studying the poetry of Seamus Heaney through close reading. With Mariah Whelan. Session 1 of 2.

Join us for two x two-hourly sessions, studying the poetry of Seamus Heaney through close reading. With Mariah Whelan. Session 2 of 2.

This hybrid course provides 4 x 60-minute lectures as video recordings, and ends with a live online seminar with Dr Miles Leeson. We will study:

• Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley (1955)
• Barbara Comyns, The Vet's Daughter (1959)
• Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)
• Brigid Brophy, The Snow Ball (1964).

Doris Lessing Course: Women and Destiny. 1. The Grass is Singing (1950). Lecture 1 of 4 fortnightly sessions, live online with Anne-Laure Brevet.

Brontes Season 2026-27. Lecture 1.

Image: Gary Butterfield, Yorkshire, Unsplash

Session 1 of 2. We study more of the great poetry of P. B. Shelley through close reading. Live online sessions with poet and lecturer Mariah Whelan.

Session 2 of 2. We study more of the great poetry of P. B. Shelley through close reading. Live online sessions with poet and lecturer Mariah Whelan.

Doris Lessing Course: Women and Destiny. 2. Martha Quest (1952). Lecture 2 of 4 fortnightly sessions, live online with Anne-Laure Brevet.

Virginia Woolf Season 2026-27. Lecture 1.

Session 1 of 5. We study writing about Venice in the 19th and 20th centuries. Live online course with Miles Leeson. Lecture 1: the 19th century: Byron, Wordsworth, Ruskin, Dickens.

Doris Lessing Course: Women and Destiny. 3. The Golden Notebook (1962). Lecture 3 of 4 fortnightly sessions, live online with Anne-Laure Brevet.

Brontes Season 2026-27. Lecture 2.

Image: Gary Butterfield Yorkshire, Unsplash

Session 2 of 5. We study writing about Venice in the 19th and 20th centuries. Live online course with Miles Leeson. Lecture 2: Henry James The Aspern Papers (1888).

An introduction to Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, with Dr Fred Parker, University of Cambridge. Lecture 1 of 2. Live online.

Join Mariah Whelan for a 2-hour seminar on Close Reading Poetry of the Irish Peace Process. Part of our series Lectures for Peace. All proceeds go to charities working for peace and for refugees. Details will be published on the Lectures for Peace page. This session will be a 2-hour seminar, and won’t be recorded.

Doris Lessing Course: Women and Destiny. 4. The Summer Before Dark (1973). Lecture 4 of 4 fortnightly sessions, live online with Anne-Laure Brevet.

An introduction to Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, with Dr Fred Parker, University of Cambridge. Lecture 2 of 2. Live online.

Session 3 of 5. We study writing about Venice in the 19th and 20th centuries. Live online course with Miles Leeson. Lecture 3. Thomas Mann, Death in Venice (1912)

Virginia Woolf Season 2026-27. Lecture 2.

We study four great detective novels from the 1920s and 30s, all written by women. Lecture 1 of 4 with Alison Hennegan. Live online course.

Session 4 of 5. We study writing about Venice in the 19th and 20th centuries. Live online course with Miles Leeson. Lecture 4. Patricia Highsmith, Those Who Walk Away (1967).

Brontes Season 2026-27. Lecture 3.

Image: Gary Butterfield, Yorkshire, Unsplash

Session 1 of 2. This is our second course on the great poetry of American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) which we study through close reading. Live online sessions with poet and lecturer Mariah Whelan.

We study four great detective novels from the 1920s and 30s, all written by women. Lecture 2 of 4 with Alison Hennegan. Live online course.

Session 2 of 2. This is our second course on the great poetry of American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) which we study through close reading. Live online sessions with poet and lecturer Mariah Whelan.

Session 5 of 5. We study writing about Venice in the 19th and 20th centuries. Live online course with Miles Leeson. Lecture 5 Daphne du Maurier, Don't Look Now (1971).

Virginia Woolf Season.

Mark Hussey on Woolf’s last novel, Between the Acts (1941). Live online lecture and seminar.

We study four great detective novels from the 1920s and 30s, all written by women. Lecture 3 of 4 with Alison Hennegan. Live online course.

Session 1 of 2. We study some great poems about birds through close reading. Live online sessions with poet and lecturer Mariah Whelan.

Brontes Season 2026-27. Lecture 4.

Image: Andy Carne, Yorkshire Moors, Unsplash

Session 2 of 2. We study some great poems about birds through close reading. Live online sessions with poet and lecturer Mariah Whelan.

We study four great detective novels from the 1920s and 30s, all written by women. Lecture 4 of 4 with Alison Hennegan. Live online course.

Join us in person in Cambridge for an intensive study afternoon on two of Ali Smith’s recent great novels. Led by Dr Alex Calder, University of Cambridge. Two lectures and a seminar over 3 hours. Tea and biscuits will be provided. Further details to follow soon.

Virginia Woolf Season 2026-27. Lecture 4.

Lecture 1 of 4 on the plays and stories of Anton Chekhov, with Claire Davison and Trudi Tate.

Brontes Season 2026-27. Lecture 5

Image: Gary Butterfield, Yorkshire, Unsplash

Lecture 1 of 5 on Iris Murdoch and Marriage with Miles Leeson. We study five great novels by Murdoch, January-March 2027.

Set reading:

• The Sandcastle
• A Severed Head
• A Fairly Honourable Defeat
• The Sacred and Profane Love Machine
• The Book and the Brotherhood

Lecture 2 of 4 on the plays and stories of Anton Chekhov, with Claire Davison and Trudi Tate.

Virginia Woolf Season 2026-27. Lecture 5.

Lecture 3 of 4 on the plays and stories of Anton Chekhov, with Claire Davison and Trudi Tate.

Annual Woolf Birthday Lecture with the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain, London. Date to be confirmed.

Lecture 2 of 5 on Iris Murdoch and Marriage with Miles Leeson. We study five great novels by Murdoch, January-March 2027.

Set reading:

• The Sandcastle
• A Severed Head
• A Fairly Honourable Defeat
• The Sacred and Profane Love Machine
• The Book and the Brotherhood

Lecture 4 of 4 on the plays and stories of Anton Chekhov, with Claire Davison and Trudi Tate.

Virginia Woolf Season 2026-27. Lecture 6.

Lecture 3 of 5 on Iris Murdoch and Marriage with Miles Leeson. We study five great novels by Murdoch, January-March 2027.

Set reading:

• The Sandcastle
• A Severed Head
• A Fairly Honourable Defeat
• The Sacred and Profane Love Machine
• The Book and the Brotherhood

Brontes Season 2026-27. Lecture 5

Image: Gary Butterfield, Yorkshire, Unsplash

Lecture 4 of 5 on Iris Murdoch and Marriage with Miles Leeson. We study five great novels by Murdoch, January-March 2027.

Set reading:

• The Sandcastle
• A Severed Head
• A Fairly Honourable Defeat
• The Sacred and Profane Love Machine
• The Book and the Brotherhood

Virginia Woolf Season 2026-27. Lecture 7.

Lecture 5 of 5 on Iris Murdoch and Marriage with Miles Leeson. We study five great novels by Murdoch, January-March 2027.

Set reading:

• The Sandcastle
• A Severed Head
• A Fairly Honourable Defeat
• The Sacred and Profane Love Machine
• The Book and the Brotherhood

Lecture 1 of 6. Katherine Mansfield: Place and Displacement. Live online course, weekly, with various lecturers.

Lecture 2 of 6. Katherine Mansfield: Place and Displacement. Live online course, weekly, with various lecturers.

Lecture 3 of 6. Katherine Mansfield: Place and Displacement. Live online course, weekly, with various lecturers.

Lecture 4 of 6. Katherine Mansfield: Place and Displacement. Live online course, weekly, with various lecturers.

Lecture 5 of 6. Katherine Mansfield: Place and Displacement. Live online course, weekly, with various lecturers.

Lecture 6 of 6. Katherine Mansfield: Place and Displacement. Live online course, weekly, with various lecturers.

Lecture 1 of 6 on Literary Gardens Course 2 with Karina Jakubowicz.

E. M. Forster, Howards End (1910)

Lecture 2 of 6 on Literary Gardens Course 2 with Karina Jakubowicz.

D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928)

Lecture 3 of 6 on Literary Gardens Course 2 with Karina Jakubowicz.

Virginia Woolf, The Waves (1931)

Lecture 4 of 6 on Literary Gardens Course 2 with Karina Jakubowicz.

Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca (1938)

Lecture 5 of 6 on Literary Gardens Course 2 with Karina Jakubowicz.

John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids (1951)

Lecture 6 of 6 on Literary Gardens Course 2 with Karina Jakubowicz.

Tan Twang Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists (2011)