Tickets are selling fast for the first edition of our poetry reading series, Off the Page, featuring Camille Ralphs, Declan Ryan, @dominicleonard.bsky.social and @jobratten.bsky.social . Get yours before they're gone! thelondonmagazine.org/product/off-...

We have extended the deadline for our Short Story Prize by two weeks to give any last minute writers a chance to submit. Entries close midnight on Sunday October 12th. Further details and link to submit here: thelondonmagazine.org/short-story-...

Last day to submit! Judged by Gurnaik Johal, Ben Pester and CAA’s Erika Price, the winning stories will receive cash prizes and publication in The London Magazine. Submissions close at midnight. More details here: thelondonmagazine.org/short-story-...

This poem by R. S. Thomas originally appeared in the December 1963 edition of The London Magazine, alongside poetry by Derek Walcott, Lawrence Durrell and C. Day Lewis.

(1/5) 🌌 Cyril Connolly once wrote to soothe a young woman afraid of death. He said: death is either survival or extinction. If survival, it is spirit. If extinction, it is nothingness, no more to fear than deep sleep. Read here: thelondonmagazine.org/archive-cyri... @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social

‘The only thing that still holds me is this glittering belief, however contrary it is to all the evidence around me, that somehow things will shift and change and a new light will finger its way through the darkness.’ New short fiction by Joseph Pierson: thelondonmagazine.org/fiction-cora...

Our October / November 2025 issue is now available for pre-order! Cover image by Sandra Blow. Pre-order here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/pre-...

‘Lockwood is taking the real and slipping it through genres in her efforts to capture it, resulting in a portrayal more authentic than straight fiction or memoir.’ Oonagh Devitt Tremblay reviews Patricia Lockwood's Will There Ever Be Another You: thelondonmagazine.org/review-will-...

One week to go before submissions close for this year’s Short Story Prize. Judged by Gurnaik Johal, Ben Pester and CAA’s Erika Price, the winning stories will receive cash prizes and publication in The London Magazine. More details here: thelondonmagazine.org/short-story-...

'I feel strongly about a number of things and don't say enough. I think it's the job of any intellectual in society to make comments. From 1968, an interview with Iris Murdoch: thelondonmagazine.org/archive-iris...

Hey, London people, we're going along to this. Want to join us?

Coming soon... October / November 2025

October 29th, The London Magazine launches its new series of poetry readings, Off the Page, with performances from Camille Ralphs, Declan Ryan, @dominicleonard.bsky.social and @jobratten.bsky.social. From memory, no phones. Tickets and further information here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/off-...

'The ongoing capacity of the sonnet to allow for both chaos and control is one that will ensure its viability even in our increasingly fractious and factional of times.' Paul Muldoon on the most ‘persistent’ and ‘pervasive’ of poetic forms: thelondonmagazine.org/essay-scanty...

[CALL FOR PITCHES] The London Mag is inviting pitches for essays, reviews and interviews that explore literature in its many intersections with culture, politics and the personal. Further details here: thelondonmagazine.org/submission-g...

For the next ten days, you can buy our latest issue for only £6.95. Order before September 19th, and save over 20% on an issue that includes poetry by John Burnside and Tim Tim Cheng, an essay on Islamic mysticism in Andalusia by Rob Doyle, and more: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

'I have always written in the first person. I find it extremely difficult to use the third person because we are all, deep down, incurable individualists.' From 1985, an interview with Natalia Ginzburg: thelondonmagazine.org/archive-fami...

Excellent interview with @benpester.bsky.social.

'My writing is always political work. It is a warning about the condition we are in. But I can’t offer answers. I don’t have them.' Joseph Williams speaks to @benpester.bsky.social about his debut novel, The Expansion Project. Read here: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-th...

One month to go before submissions close for this year’s Short Story Prize. Judged by Gurnaik Johal, @benpester.bsky.social and CAA’s Erika Price, the winning stories will receive cash prizes and publication in The London Magazine. More details here: thelondonmagazine.org/short-story-...

'What is true is that the dry as dust academic thing on the one hand and the sloppy solarplexus thing on the other, end in both cases in utter artistic death.' From the archives, an interview with Christopher Isherwood. Read here: thelondonmagazine.org/archive-chri...

'The thing that surprised me, really, was just the levels of sadness in the people I was travelling among. I was expecting the environmental devastation. I wasn’t really expecting the societal devastation.' Emmeline Armitage speaks to Joanna Pocock: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-jo...

I actually own a copy of this number of The London Magazine. For many years this was the only place you could find this story in English, until Into The War was finally translated and released in 2011.

'I fell into a melancholy train of thought. I wasn't suited to live under Fascism but Fascism would win. It was the worst people who won wars.' From 1955, short fiction by Italo Calvino: thelondonmagazine.org/archive-a-tr...

'I want stories that commit to the idea – no matter how weird things get – like a kind of bird that might not obviously be able to fly, but then it does, and of course, when it lands, we are breathless.' – Ben Pester Enter here: thelondonmagazine.org/short-story-...

‘Translators, as you say, didn’t get their name on the cover. They still don’t, by the way.’ ICYMI, we had Ann Goldstein on the podcast last month to talk about Elena Ferrante, Donatella Di Pietrantonio and the art of translation: open.spotify.com/episode/3RZX...

Here is my poem "The Colour Carmine" published in @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social back in 2024. #poetry #poetrysky

'Death means extinction of all perception and therefore is not to be feared any more than deep sleep is to be feared. One cannot feel about the absence of feeling.' From 1949, Cyril Connolly's Seven Cures for the Fear of Death: thelondonmagazine.org/archive-cyri...

'Winter Sutra', one of two poems by John Burnside in our August / September 2025 issue. @jonathancape.bsky.social Order a copy here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

'Humanity, not flattery, is the point of portraiture. Capture that, I told Adams, and the viewer is compelled to sympathise, whatever their preconceptions. "Grand," he said.' Aidan Harte on meeting and sculpting Gerry Adams: thelondonmagazine.org/article/essa...

'Dreamsand', a poem by Sam Harvey from our August / September issue. The golden shovel was created by Terrance Hayes, where the final word of each line is taken from a line in an existing poem. The existing poem in this case is by Noran Bilal Ismael, aged 9, published in ‘Moon tell me truth’.

'What was God if not the ultimate stage in a lifelong pursuit of the sublime high?' From the August / September issue, Rob Doyle on Islamic mysticism in Andalusia: thelondonmagazine.org/article/essa...

Our August / September 2025 issue is out now! Cover image by Elizabeth Dimitroff, cartoon by Dan Sperrin. Order here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

This month, on The London Magazine Podcast, we speak to editor and translator Ann Goldstein, renowned for bringing Elena Ferrante’s work to English readers. Here, Ann tells us the story of first reading Ferrante. Listen to the full episode here: open.spotify.com/episode/3RZX...

'Nothing was more out of my character than the days I spent with Jessica in Europe, but let these few lines serve as a reminder that this poor – and generally pessimistic – literary critic also gave in to the strong waves of enthusiasm.' — Carlos Paguada thelondonmagazine.org/article/fict...

Our August / September 2025 issue is now available for pre-order! Cover image by Elizabeth Dimitroff. Pre-order here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/pre-...

'Sign / Signal', a poem by Serena Alagappan from our June / July 2025 issue.

The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025 is now open! We are delighted to announce that Gurnaik Johal, Ben Pester and CAA’s Erika Price will be this year’s judges for the prize. Enter here: thelondonmagazine.org/short-story-...

Coming soon… August / September 2025

'The toothless, gentle, atheist-but-spiritual style of a book like Orbital falls, I think, into the popular bracket of ‘wellbeing’ literature. It is already a difficult and confusing world, it says. Why should your reading be difficult also?' thelondonmagazine.org/article/essa...

'Charming and funny, warm and inquisitive, the reflecting Dyer provides a page-turner that entertains you just long enough to forget the sad fact of it all, that even camera-less pictures warp and fade.' Joseph Williams review Geoff Dyer's new memoir, Homework: thelondonmagazine.org/article/revi...

'Dieu Nous Donne Bonne Adventure', a poem by @victoriaspires.bsky.social from our June / July 2025 issue. thelondonmagazine.org/subscription/

'Unfinished', a poem by Edward Limb from our June / July 2025 issue. Subscribe for more like this: thelondonmagazine.org/subscription/

'The success of Oasis is that they have selected an image. That they have been aided by a culture which celebrates men behaving badly and football as an art form is without doubt.' From 1997, Archie Cotterell reviews 'the phenomenon of Oasis': thelondonmagazine.org/archive-oasi...

On Thurs 10th, we have our 3rd Brunel Uni free publishing webinar: find out everything there is to know about submitting to literary journals. Join us to hear from Lisa McInerney (Stinging Fly), Sana Goyal @wasafirimag.bsky.social and Jamie Cameron @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social Register here⬇️

'Gunpowder' by Batool Abu Akleen was awarded third place in The London Magazine Poetry Prize 2025 and published in our June / July issue.

ICYMI, we had Gurnaik Johal on the podcast this month to talk about maximalist fiction and his debut novel, Saraswati (@serpents-tail.bsky.social). Listen to the full episode here: open.spotify.com/episode/4Wd3...

'Use the Words You Have is not just a novel of desire. It’s a meditation on the nature of language itself.' Bruce Omar Yates reviews Kimberly Campanello's debut novel: thelondonmagazine.org/review-use-t...

'Masquerade', a poem by Audrey Molloy from our February / March 2025 issue. For more poems like this, order the latest issue: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

It was my pleasure to write this introduction.