‘We must / Go through the ritual / Formulæ of farewell, // The words, the looks, / The embraces, knowing / That this time they are final.’
From 1964, a poem by W. H. Auden.
Fiction | Margot by Marni Appleton
‘It wasn’t that I didn’t love Margot. I did, desperately, but watching people make fun of her made me feel better about myself. It was one of the only things that did.’
Short fiction by Marni Appleton. An extract from ‘I Hope You’re Happy’.
Interview | Tony Tulathimutte: ‘A short story can do almost anything a novel can.’
‘I tend to enjoy writers who are good at writing gasbags; those who are in love with the sound of their own awful voice.’
Lilia Fetini speaks to Tony Tulathimutte.
Podcast | Jeremy Leslie
‘The phrase “the end of print” is a sales tool for the digital world.’
On The London Magazine Podcast, Jeremy Leslie discusses magCulture, his favourite magazines and why ‘end of print’ narratives are nonsense.
Interview | The Search for Truth: Michael Amherst in Conversation
‘I’m surprised that we’ve reached this weird cultural moment where we’re constantly trying to work out what is true, what is based on someone’s experience, particularly in relation to work that maybe meets the definition of autofiction.’
An interview with Michael Amherst.
Fiction | Anywhere Apart from Here 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.
Archive | In the Shadow of War by Ben Okri
‘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.
Interview | Jacqueline Feldman: ‘It’s salutary to spend time around people who have arranged their lives in radical ways.’
Julia Steiner interviews Jacqueline Feldman about Precarious Lease: The Paris Document: a book of literary reportage on Parisian squats of the early 2010s.
Fiction | Signal by A. E. Macleod
‘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.
Essay | Low-quality Sonic Snapshots by Marie Thompson
‘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.
Archive | Don Quixote on a Bicycle: In Memoriam, George Orwell
‘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.
Archive | Bob Dylan on Tour by Angela Carter
‘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.
Interview | Mingling with Caleb Parkin
‘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.
Archive | You Name It by Nadine Gordimer
‘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.
Interview | Gustav Parker Hibbett: ‘I grew up with other people being the authority in defining my identity.’
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.
Review | ‘Song is a strong thing’: On the T. S. Eliot Prize Shortlist by Dominic Leonard
‘Whether in subject, form, style or quality, a shortlist can at least set out the stall of contemporary poetry and say: this is, for better or worse, what’s going on.’
Dominic Leonard reviews the 2024 T. S. Eliot Prize shortlist.
Archive | A Message from T. S. Eliot
‘Readers must be encouraged to read books, not merely to talk about books they have not read.’
A message from T. S. Eliot, from the February 1954 edition of The London Magazine.
Review | With One Hand Waving Free: Ken Fuller’s Latest Political Thriller
‘A lyrical poetry emerges from the forward-rolling action and dialogue.’
Rachel Birchley review Ken Fuller’s new novel, With One Hand Waving Free
Archive | Texts for Nothing: VI by Samuel Beckett
‘Words can be blotted and the mad thoughts they invent, all you have to do is say you said nothing and so say nothing again.’
Samuel Beckett in the August 1967 edition of The London Magazine.
Interview | Jon Day: ‘I hate the idea of going places.’
‘Great things to learn as a writer: how to meet a deadline, how to be edited, how not to be precious about your prose.’
Rose Brookfield interviews Jon Day.
The Best Books of 2024
This year, we asked our 2024 reviewers to select their favourite book of the year. Selections include Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst, Adam by Gboyega Odubanjo and A Question of Palestine by Edward Said, as well as collections of essays on French theory, re-issued aphorisms and photographic monographs.
Archive | Poem by John Betjeman
‘Is he too ill to know that he is dying? / And, if he does know, does he really care?’
A poem by John Betjeman, from the May 1957 issue of The London Magazine.
Podcast | Paul Stephenson
‘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.
Review | The Cesspits of London by Hugh Dunkerley
‘The portrayals of Victorian London in The Night Mechanic are as visceral and powerful as many of those conjured by Dickens.’
Hugh Dunkerley reviews ‘The Night Mechanic’.