LONDON READING LAB
Summer 2025
courses
summer 2025
This 10-session course teaches students to analyse literature, refine their writing, and build persuasive arguments. The first half of the course explores close reading and literary craft, focusing on narration, voice, and description through works by Austen, Woolf, Salinger, and Defoe. In the second half, students transition to rhetorical analysis and argument-building, studying Orwell, Wollstonecraft, and Graff & Birkenstein to learn how to construct, support, and refine arguments. Each session combines discussion and writing workshops, helping students master the tools of literary and rhetorical analysis. Designed for students preparing for A-Levels and university coursework, this course strengthens critical reading, essay writing, and structured argumentation—equipping students to engage with complex texts and write with clarity and confidence.
This 10-session course is designed to help younger students cultivate a love for literature, explore big ideas, and develop foundational writing skills. Each session centers on a core literary theme—imagination, empathy, suspense, or satire—while introducing students to classic and contemporary works. Through engaging discussions and hands-on activities, students will learn how authors craft voice, point of view, and vivid storytelling in works by J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, J.D. Salinger, Shakespeare, and more. The final weeks shift focus to writing fundamentals, covering grammar, textual evidence, and argument-building to help students write clearly and persuasively. Perfect for students in academic years or grades 7-9, this course nurtures critical reading, thoughtful discussion, and confident writing—building skills that will serve them for years to come.
about
At London Reading Lab, we are dedicated to fostering close reading, critical thinking, and exceptional writing skills. Our courses help students master argument, rhetoric, and textual analysis through discussion-based seminars. Whether analysing literature, philosophy, or contemporary essays, we empower students to read closely, think critically, and write persuasively.
Our seminars are designed to equip ambitious students with the tools to excel in academics and beyond.
about the tutor
summer 2025
Eve Houghton, PhD
Dr. Eve Houghton is a Research Fellow in English at St John’s College, Cambridge. She received her BA and PhD in English from Yale University and specializes in early modern literature, book history, and the history of the novel.
Dr. Houghton has taught literature and academic writing at Yale College, the University of Cambridge, and University College London. Her recent undergraduate teaching includes courses at Yale College such as Comedies of Manners, Shakespeare to Sally Rooney (2023), What Was Reading? (co-taught, 2022), and (In)Authenticity in Reality TV (2021). She also served as a college tutor for the foundational University College London English course, Narrative Texts, from 2022 to 2023, and at Cambridge, she teaches for the Shakespeare, Material Renaissance, and Early Modern Drama Papers.
Yale University, Fall 2023
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Spring 2020
2 June 2025 - 2 July 2025
Monday & Wednesday
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM GMT | 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM EDT
Please inquire about additional times.
Program Overview
In this half of the course we’ll turn to our own critical writing projects. You’ll choose a text we’ve read in the previous six weeks and we’ll practice formulating a claim about it—a claim that is broad enough to become the basis of an essay, but narrow enough to be proven in the space of that essay.
Building Your Own Arguments
Lesson 7: Claims
Monday, 23 June 2025
Selections from Wayne Booth, The Craft of Research
2 June 2025 - 2 July 2025
Monday & Wednesday
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM GMT | 9:30 AM - 10:30 PM EDT
Please inquire about additional times.
Program Overview
This week, we’ll focus on narrative perspective—who tells the story, and how does that affect the way we experience it? Through Austen’s use of free indirect discourse, students will explore how narration can subtly shift between the author’s perspective and a character’s inner thoughts, creating a balance between distance and intimacy in storytelling.
How Stories Work: Literary Craft & Techniques
Lesson 7: Point of View — Who Tells the Story?
Monday, 23 June 2025
Selections from Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
