‘I hope there is something just beyond the purview of my language that goes further than just wanting to be a woman and not always having been one.’
New short fiction by Beth Preece.
‘I hope there is something just beyond the purview of my language that goes further than just wanting to be a woman and not always having been one.’
New short fiction by Beth Preece.
‘When he looked at the canoes again they had changed into the shapes of swollen dead animals.’
From 1988, short fiction by Booker-prize winner, Ben Okri.
Julia Steiner interviews Jacqueline Feldman about Precarious Lease: The Paris Document: a book of literary reportage on Parisian squats of the early 2010s.
‘Not until later does he pose to himself the question: why does he imagine it is a woman bound in the basement and not a man?’
New fiction by A. E. Macleod.
‘Personal assistants are typically imagined to be female – it is a role that has historically been undertaken by women. Likewise, many of the smartphones’ various ‘assistants’ are gendered as female – they are part of a long historical lineage of robotic femininities.’
An extract by Marie Thompson from Bodies of Sound: Becoming a Feminist Ear.
‘He loved good bad poets. Knew nothing about painting, but knew that he knew nothing. Listened as much as he talked. Was incapable of playing to the gallery. Could tell a joke against himself.’
From 1957, George Orwell’s friend, Paul Potts, pays tribute to the novelist and essayist.
‘He has become a prophet of chaos and those who once accepted him as a blue-denim Messiah of a Brotherhood future once the times had changed may sense a personal betrayal.’
In 1966, Angela Carter reviewed Bob Dylan’s World Tour.
‘Hope can be quite a toxic construct. It’s often invested in preserving the present, but what version of the present are we hoping to continue?’
Tom Nutting speaks to poet and educator, Caleb Parkin.
‘At this time my husband had taken it upon himself to send for his mother to supervise the children and the atmosphere in the house was one of blinding, deafening, obsessive antagonism.’
Short fiction by Nadine Gordimer.
Jamie Cameron speaks to Gustav Parker Hibbett about form, identity and what it felt like to be shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize for their collection, High Jump as Icarus Story.
‘Let’s talk about our terrible / childhoods, I say. Over tiramisu, Chekhov asks me to marry him / and I say yes, of course.’
New poetry by Jo Bratten.
‘In my calculations for our one-year stay here, I didn’t consider whether the layered emotional outfits I’ve assembled for my parenting persona in Rio might not fit here.’
Short fiction by Idra Novey.
‘For all its claims to fluid, amorphous prose untethered to plot and traditional character development, autofiction – and herein lies the irony – remains firmly representational, if not entirely conventional.’
Zuhri James on Rachel Cusk and autofiction.
£8.95
On The London Magazine podcast, we speak to brilliant writers, poets and artists about their craft, inspiration and career so far. If ever you want to ask our guests a literary question, email info@thelondonmagazine.org to have it asked on the podcast.
‘Bereavement, grief: it’s extremely self-indulgent.’
On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast, we talk to poet and editor Paul Stephenson about poetic form, absurdity, grief and more.
‘I don’t want to be a representative for a nation state.’
We chatted to Joshua Jones, author of Local Fires, about the benefits of multiple POVs and interconnected stories, how not to get sued when writing autofiction and his love of Chicago indie rock band, Joan of Arc.
Claire Carroll writes experimental fiction about the intersection of nature, technology and desire. On the podcast, she talks about her new short story collection, The Unreliable Nature Writer.
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.
‘When he looked at the canoes again they had changed into the shapes of swollen dead animals.’
From 1988, short fiction by Booker-prize winner, Ben Okri.
‘He loved good bad poets. Knew nothing about painting, but knew that he knew nothing. Listened as much as he talked. Was incapable of playing to the gallery. Could tell a joke against himself.’
From 1957, George Orwell’s friend, Paul Potts, pays tribute to the novelist and essayist.
‘He has become a prophet of chaos and those who once accepted him as a blue-denim Messiah of a Brotherhood future once the times had changed may sense a personal betrayal.’
In 1966, Angela Carter reviewed Bob Dylan’s World Tour.