From reissued classics, theory and art criticism to poetry, fiction, biography and even a memetic fiction born out of niche internet subcultures, here are The London Magazine’s Best Books of 2025.
The London Magazine Writing Retreat at The Mill, France
From June 14th–21st 2026, join The London Magazine on a restorative and productive creative writing retreat at The Mill, France.
While our editorial team will be on hand throughout the week to lead workshops, facilitate conversations and offer one-to-one editorial feedback, the retreat is designed so that you can write at your own pace.
Competitions, | News
Renesha Dhanraj wins The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025
The judges of The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025 award first place to Renesha Dhanraj for her story, ‘Black Cake’, with second and third place awarded to Jordan Hayward and Jonathan Edwards, respectively.
Interview | Lili Anolik on Didion, Babitz and Literary Stardom by Emmeline Armitage
‘You’re probably going to hurt people’s feelings. But you can’t let yourself think about that. You’ve got to stay detached, cool eyed. If you can’t do that, you might as well pack it in and become an academic or something.’
Emmeline Armitage interview Lili Anolik.
Review | Fictionally Speaking, True by Hassan Akram
‘Smith is an excellent dissector of power and identity, but conventional party politics are not in her line.’
Hassan Akram reviews Zadie Smith’s Dead and Alive.
Archive | A 1962 Survey of Poets
The February 1962 edition of The London Magazine was dedicated to poetry.
Editor Alan Ross spoke to several poets at the time about their craft and thoughts on poetry, including Robert Graves, Philip Larkin, Derek Walcott, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and more.
Essay | The Leftovers by Gabrielle Showalter
‘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.
Review | To Go Through the Raskolnikov Process by Hugh Foley
‘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 Muscle Man.
Interview | Tim MacGabhann on Short Stories and the Anti-Plot Sentence
‘Even if you’re writing in the third person, in that George Eliot-style, zoomed-out voice, every narrator is a person. Who are they? How do they know this stuff? The reader may never know who they are, but you need to know who they are.’
Joseph Williams speaks to Tim MacGabhann.
Essay | Swimming Pools by Emmeline Armitage
‘Pools are a curious manipulation of the natural. 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 symbol of the swimming pool.
Essay | 41 Numbered Paragraphs About Dementia and Fiction by Caleb Klaces
‘The words of reassurance assume something like this: David remains David, whatever happens, as long as someone remembers who he was. But I kept asking myself: When was he who he really was? When exactly was that? And what’s to say that it is not right now?’
Caleb Klaces on dementia and fiction.
Review | Famous Heaney by Jack Barron
‘Both his Poems and Letters, in different registers, show a private poet courting lyric publicity and cultivating a voice of guarded ambiguity: memorable, yes, but sacrificing true risk for renown.’
Jack Barron reviews Seamus Heaney’s collected Poems and Letters.
Fiction | Black Cake by Renesha Dhanraj
‘Sitting across the ornate coffee table from my husband, I felt as if I was seeing him for the first time. I told him so, somewhat jokingly, but mainly to crush the silence that had overtaken us, and was about to add, At least we can finally catch our breath, eh? but then I was overcome by the feeling of telling a lie, so I kept the rest to myself.’
Winner of The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2025.
New Issue and Tote Bag Bundle
With the new issue and tote bag bundle, save 20% on the cost of our December / January 2026 issue and the bespoke TLM tote. The latest issue includes the three winning stories from this year’s Short Story Prize, as well as an essay by Caleb Klaces on dementia and fiction and a major review by Jack Barron of the…
£20.00
Podcast
On The London Magazine podcast, we speak to brilliant writers, poets and artists about their craft, inspiration and career so far. New episodes every month.
Podcast | Ann Goldstein
Ann Goldstein discusses the oxymoron of the ‘celebrated translator’, her early encounters with Italian through Dante and the story of how she became Ferrante’s translator. Goldstein reflects on Ferrante’s unique syntax and style, as well as the broader challenges of Italian–English translation.
Podcast | Gurnaik Johal
‘This is where I say to any budding writers out there: write historical fiction!’
Gurnaik Johal on The London Magazine Podcast.
Podcast | Leo Robson
‘One of the things that the novel is about is different forms of chronology that we mark things by.’
Leo Robson on The London Magazine Podcast.
Archive
The London Magazine has a publication history spanning almost three hundred years, and has featured work by some of the most prominent names in literature, from John Keats to Hilary Mantel. In this curated selection, we share our favourite pieces from the TLM archive.
Archive | A 1962 Survey of Poets
The February 1962 edition of The London Magazine was dedicated to poetry.
Editor Alan Ross spoke to several poets at the time about their craft and thoughts on poetry, including Robert Graves, Philip Larkin, Derek Walcott, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and more.
Archive | The Predicament of International Style: British Painters in 1961
‘The real merit of British painting is that it is at its best romantic, unclassical, particular, fanatical, self-obsessed and the result of close observation in a misty country that has longish winter evenings.’
A survey of British painters in 1961.
Archive | Gore Vidal: Puritan Moralist
‘I have the sense that Vidal is frequently accused of cruelty when, in fact, he is simply being candid, a quality not greatly appreciated in a literary community which tends to view all criticism as conspiratorial or personally motivated.’
From 1981, an interview with Gore Vidal.
