The London Magazine
@thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
1.3K followers 40 following 240 posts
The UK's oldest literary journal: a review of literature and the arts, est. 1732, published bi-monthly. thelondonmagazine.org https://linktr.ee/thelondonmagazine
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
Our October / November 2025 issue is out now!

Cover image by Sandra Blow, cartoon by Dan Sperrin.

Order here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
'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...
Essay | For Love of the Feral by Christiana Spens - The London Magazine
Christiana Spens on 'Common People', 'Uncommon Ground' and the turbulent nature of land access rights movements in the UK.
thelondonmagazine.org
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
'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...
Essay | Between Beirut, Gaza and Glangwili by A. Naji Bakhti - The London Magazine
A. Naji Bakhti on the dissonance of living in Wales teaching creative writing while his home city, Beirut, and Gaza continue to be bombed.
thelondonmagazine.org
Reposted by The London Magazine
tinyowlworkshop.bsky.social
‘… 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
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
'There’s big trouble in the world of little magazines.' — Tristram Fane Saunders

Tristram Fane Saunders on what makes 'little magazines' so fragile, why they matter and why they so often vanish without any fanfare.

Read here: thelondonmagazine.org/article/essa...
Essay | Why Magazines Fail by Tristram Fane Saunders - The London Magazine
Drawing on recent literary magazine closures, Tristram Fane Saunders asks what makes 'little magazines' so fragile, why they matter and why they so often vanish.
thelondonmagazine.org
thelondonmagazine.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-...
Archive | The Predicament of International Style: British Painters in 1961 - The London Magazine
The July 1961 edition of The London Magazine was dedicated to painting. The issue spoke to several British painters about their work and international art.
thelondonmagazine.org
Reposted by The London Magazine
Reposted by The London Magazine
traumaandcompany.bsky.social
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...
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
'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...
Essay | No Designated Venue: An Oral History of London’s Music and Poetry Scenes - The London Magazine
Yasmina Snyder speaks to poets, musicians and event organisations to deliver an oral history of London's live music and poetry scenes.
thelondonmagazine.org
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
‘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...
Archive | Gore Vidal: Puritan Moralist - The London Magazine
'‘I suppose I'm as egotistical as the next person. But narcissim? In what way?' From 1981, Michael Mewshaw profiles Gore Vidal.
thelondonmagazine.org
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
Or, read the full piece in print alongside short fiction by Booker Prize winner Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and an oral history piece on London’s live music and poetry scene.

Buy a copy here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
Happy National Poetry Day!

‘An Important Addition to the Truth’, a poem by Andrew Kerr, from our October / November issue.

Order the latest issue here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
Our October / November 2025 issue is out now!

Cover image by Sandra Blow, cartoon by Dan Sperrin.

Order here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
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-...
The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025 - The London Magazine
The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025 is now open for submissions. We are looking for unpublished short fiction, no longer than 4000 words.
thelondonmagazine.org
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
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.
Reposted by The London Magazine
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...
Fiction | Coral by Joseph Pierson - The London Magazine
'The problem with me is I just can’t relax, I find it so hard to let go of this thing I’m holding.' New short fiction by Joseph Pierson.
thelondonmagazine.org
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
Hugh Foley on That Broke into Shining Crystals by Richard Scott and Avidyā by Vidyan Ravinthiran. (@bloodaxebooks.bsky.social)
Katie Tobin on The Four Spent the Day Together by Chris Kraus. (Scribe)

Pre-order here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/pre-...
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
Reviews:
Lucy Thynne on Big Kiss, Bye-Bye by Claire-Louise Bennett (@fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social)
Sara Ahmad on Good Country People and Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor. (@faberbooks.bsky.social)
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
Featuring:
Tristram Fane Saunders on why magazines fail.
@zuhrijames.bsky.social on the Buddha of Suburbia and the psychogeography of London.
Zsófia Paulikovics on Perfection, Allegro Pastel and the aesthetic life.
Yasmina Snyder explores the links between London's live music and poetry scenes.
thelondonmagazine.bsky.social
Poetry by Xabier Usabiaga, Holly Pollard, Andrew Kerr, Eric McHenry, Rowland Bagnall, Nina Relijć, Tarn McArthur, Patrick Romero McCafferty, @dominicleonard.bsky.social, Horatio Morpurgo, Paul Chuks, Matthew Moniz and Carolyn Oliver.

Pre-order here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/pre-...