It's a Camilla Grudova week 1. Camilla Grudova interview in @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social thelondonmagazine.org/interview-ca... 2. Camilla Grudova short story on BBC Radio 4 today (Friday) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

'I think a writer should always keep some sense of the childish about them, because if you completely dismiss it, you’re in danger of becoming ridiculous. Some very serious works are unintentionally ridiculous, and that’s much worse than being gross.' thelondonmagazine.org/interview-ca...

The London Magazine Poetry Prize 2026 is NOW OPEN! The winning poems will be published in future issues of The London Magazine. There will also be an award ceremony held in London for the winners. Further details here: thelondonmagazine.org/the-london-m...

'I’m not interested at all in critiquing what’s wrong in our culture. I’m interested in what attracts us to its seedier elements. And attraction in general.' Emmeline Armitage speaks to Lillian Fishman: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-li...

From reissued classics, theory and art criticism to poetry, fiction, biography and even a sort of memetic fiction born out of a niche internet subculture, here are The London Magazine’s Best Books of 2025. thelondonmagazine.org/the-best-boo...

I'm beyond thrilled to have two poems in the lovely new issue of @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social! Massive thanks to @jamiepcameron.bsky.social for believing in my work!

'I could not tell you what it looked like, my dad’s fury, because I do not have clear memories from when I was eight. I could not tell you what it sounded like. But I know it was there. It was dangerous and it was sad.' Caleb Klaces From our latest issue: thelondonmagazine.org/article/essa...

A poem for my brother in @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social, in fine company. Many thanks to editor @jamiepcameron.bsky.social thelondonmagazine.org

'We pay a price when poetic discourse equals just the quotable phrase. Real feeling resists received wisdom, however well tuned.' @jackbarron93.bsky.social reviews Seamus Heaney's collected poems and letters: thelondonmagazine.org/article/revi...

I have a new poem, about ancient history, in the winter edition of @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social. Very pleased I am about it too. You can get a copy and read some other pieces online here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

'The curtains were always closed and this made that whole period seem like a dream. I can’t say if we stayed for one month or one year.' Winner of this year's Short Story Prize, read Renesha Dhanraj's 'Black Cake' here: thelondonmagazine.org/article/fict...

“The poets I delight in are possessed by their poems as by the rhythms of their own breathing. Their finest poems seem born all-of-a-piece, not put together by hand” - Sylvia Plath, in a fascinating 1962 survey of poets from The London Magazine archive. 1/2🧵 thelondonmagazine.org/archive-a-19...

Our December / January 2026 issue is out now! Cover image by Tom Johnson, cartoon by Dan Sperrin. Order your copy here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

Coming soon… December / January 2026

After selecting a shortlist of six stories from thousands of entries, we are thrilled to announce Renesha Dhanraj as the winner of The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025, for her story, ‘Black Cake’. Read more here: thelondonmagazine.org/renesha-dhan...

We are delighted to share the shortlist of six stories for The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025! Congratulations to all shortlisted writers, and a huge thank you to our judges Gurnaik Johal, Ben Pester and CAA’s Erika Price. Winners will be announced next week.

'The kind of work I do, it’s not polite work. It’s not mannerly work. It’s not boundary-respecting work, okay? It’s invasive work, if you do it right.' Emmeline Armitage interviews Lili Anolik: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-li...

‘How Peaceful’, a poem by Xabier Usabiaga, translated by James Appleby, from our October / November issue. Order the latest issue here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

We've got a big announcement about our Short Story Prize coming in the next few days! Watch this space...

'Smith is an excellent dissector of power and identity, but conventional party politics are not in her line.' Hassan Akram reviews Zadie Smith’s fourth book of essays, Dead and Alive: thelondonmagazine.org/review-ficti...

Now the FAIR and GOBLINHOOD tours are over, I wanted to share this essay I wrote for @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social about writing both books. thelondonmagazine.org/article/essa... @prototypepubs.bsky.social @roughtradebooks.bsky.social

“Perhaps the real theme of the novel is forgiveness. What Harold fears is being found out. Being judged. What Castro does is refuse to judge him.” In @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social‬‬, Hugh Foley reviews Jordan Castro’s new novel, “Muscle Man” - thelondonmagazine.org/review-to-go...

'While toxic figures with millions of online followers dominate the cultural conversation about masculinity, Szalay’s novels offer a more honest account of male experience. In short, most men are losers.' Guy Stagg reviews David Szalay's Flesh: thelondonmagazine.org/article/revi...

'The reason I want to write novels rather than philosophy is that I want whatever point the novel makes to have a kind of undertone of disagreement with itself.' @faberbooks.bsky.social @thebookerprizes.com Benjamin Markovits interviewed by Jamie Cameron: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-th...

I wrote about London, psychogeography and Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia for @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social October / November issue. Read the first few pages below and then buy a copy here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr... Thanks @jamiepcameron.bsky.social for the great editorial work

'Sandy had decimated our marine life and scarred our coastline, and then came the developers to carve up the carcass. These days, the new residents have a saying for the remaining pre-Sandy locals: the leftovers.' Gabrielle Showalter recalls Hurricane Sandy: thelondonmagazine.org/essay-the-le...

'The result is beyond his competence as a writer, but it is nevertheless an interesting attempt to channel alt-lit’s commitment in new directions.' Hugh Foley reviews Jordan Castro's novel, Muscle Man (@catapultbooks.bsky.social): thelondonmagazine.org/review-to-go...

Last week we hosted the first event in our new poetry series Off the Page at Alice Black Gallery. Huge thanks to Camille Ralphs, Declan Ryan, Dominic Leonard and Jo Bratten for reading, and to all for coming. Off the Page will return in the new year with a new line-up.

‘Selfie’, a poem by Eric McHenry, from our October / November issue. Order the latest issue here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

Read this brilliant interview here!

For a limited time only, you can subscribe to The London Magazine for just £3 a month – that’s 20% off our regular subscription price. Subscribe before 31 October using the code OCT20 to claim your discount. thelondonmagazine.org/subscription/

'Sometimes I wish I was pigeonholed more as an Irish writer, because then I’d make more money…' Joseph Williams speaks to Tim MacGabhann about his new book, Saints (@scratchbooks.bsky.social). Read the interview here: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-ti...

'Where the sea performs feeling, unbreakable and unending, the reality of the pool is one trapped, much like the icons of this era, in aesthetic permanence.' Emmeline Armitage on the swimming pool: thelondonmagazine.org/essay-swimmi...

A conversation with Vidyan Ravinthiran and Karen Solie about their Forward Prize for Best Collection-winning books Avidya and Wellwater features in @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social's @forwardprizes.bsky.social series. thelondonmagazine.org/interview-fo...

'I have my own poet’s preoccupations that come back to me more or less uncontrollably, which I then have to turn into something basically legible that someone else might be interested in.' Joint winners Vidyan Ravinthiran and Karen Solie in conversation: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-fo...

'There's an interpersonal feeling that poetry does so well, where you think you’re having a solitary experience, but then you write it down and perform it, and someone's like, no, me too!' @bellacox.bsky.social and @joshuaidehen.bsky.social in conversation: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-fo...

'What poetry does is give people the scope to simultaneously challenge and champion ideas. It’s good to be able to be critical of anything, even if it’s something you really believe in.' Michael Mullen and Isabelle Baafi in conversation: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-fo...

'The English language is a colonial weapon; it’s been used for the most gruesome atrocities. How you make something beautiful with that is a troubling question.' Tom Branfoot and Tim Tim Cheng discuss their poems shortlisted for the @forwardprizes.bsky.social: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-fo...

For a limited time only, you can subscribe to The London Magazine for just £3 a month – that’s 20% off our regular subscription price. Subscribe before 31 October using the code OCT20 to claim your discount. thelondonmagazine.org/subscription/

'We’re not in the rubble, but we carry it inside us. That contradiction, being physically far but emotionally tied in, is a big part of what it means to be Palestinian in exile.' An interview with Mai Serhan: thelondonmagazine.org/interview-ma...

'It was in moments like these, when the blue nights grew darker and the boats began to shimmer in the bay, that Pablo questioned whether ambition could be vaster than this.' New short fiction by @jiminkanggg.bsky.social: thelondonmagazine.org/fiction-in-t...

'It is important to question the assumption that a love or affinity with nature, or historical injustice, automatically means we should have access to it, and what being responsible to the land we love really entails.' Read here: thelondonmagazine.org/essay-for-lo...

'I was, in that moment, the thirty-four-year-old lecturer discussing the craft of writing at Aberystwyth University. I was, also, the fifteen-year-old boy in his parent’s bathroom in Beirut sheltering from the Israeli airstrikes of 2006.' Read here: thelondonmagazine.org/essay-betwee...

‘… it isn’t really funding or institutional backing that decides a magazine’s fate, but the determination (and health, and age) of the flesh-and-blood people behind it. If they have the energy and desire to keep on, the magazine will continue.’ Great read. Thanks @gitaralleigh.bsky.social

'I think of painting as something that happens to a man working in a room, alone. He is affected by his circumstances, and the standards and events of his time, but he is the sole coherent unit.' — Frank Auerbach From 1961, a survey of British painters: thelondonmagazine.org/archive-the-...

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-...

absolutely loved this essay from the @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social by Tristram Fane Saunders (as I start my own literary magazine, yikes)!! sharing my five favorite insights in the thread below👇🏽 1/3 thelondonmagazine.org/article/essa...

'Most art can take place anywhere, so I don't see why it shouldn't. I think it should happen everywhere.' — Vera Leppänen From the latest issue, writers, poets, musicians and event organisers discuss London's live music and poetry scene. Read here: thelondonmagazine.org/article/essa...

‘I suppose I'm as egotistical as the next person. But narcissism? In what way?’ — Gore Vidal 100 years on from his birth, we revisit Michael Mewshaw’s interview with Vidal from the February / March 1981 edition of The London Magazine. Read here: thelondonmagazine.org/archive-gore...