MODERN art, foreign languages, computing and local and family history are on offer in a series of courses about to start.

The programme at the Clayport Library, in Durham City, has been organised by library staff, working with Sunderland University and New College, Durham.

A ten-week course looking at the work of Scottish poets George Mackay Brown, Iain Crichton Smith and John Burnside gets under way on April 23.

Art and Modern Life: The Early 20th Century, which runs from April 24, will look at artists such as Picasso and Kandinsky, while a course on the Philosophy of Religion starts on the same day.

Waking Giant: China in the 19th and 20th Century starts on April 25, while April 26 sees the start of courses on flowering plants and Durham, A Billion Year History, looking at the history of the area.

There will also be a series of shorter courses introducing basic computing from April 30.

For full details of all courses, please ring the Clayport Library on 0191-386-4003.