Guidelines

We will be open for free submissions during the following periods:

1 – 31 January
1 – 31 March
1 – 31 May
1 – 31 July
1 – 30 September
1 – 30 November

We advise sending in your work nearer the start of the month before we hit our submissions portal’s free quota. We charge a small fee of £3.50 for submissions outside of those windows. During periods in which our prizes are live, we will be closed for open submissions in that category. 

Accepted pieces undergo our standard editorial process, in which we work closely with the writer to prepare their work for publication. We reserve the right to withhold publication for editorial reasons.

We pay a fee for everything we publish in print. We are currently unable to pay for pieces published on the website.

• Please ensure you have submitted your piece through the correct Submittable category. For example, a short story submitted in the poetry category will not be considered. Note that running competitions will have their own Submittable category, which will be clearly signposted.
• If submitting multiple pieces through Submittable, please combine them into one document.
• We only publish original material, i.e. first-ever publication. We cannot run a piece that has already appeared online or elsewhere in print. We can, however, publish an original translation if the work has previously appeared in another language, but never before in English.
• We no longer accept submissions via post or email. Any work submitted this way will not be read.
• All correctly entered submissions will be considered for both our print issues and website.

Submission Process

For short fiction, above all we look for elegance in voice, structure and characterisation. We do not normally publish genre fiction, such as science fiction, fantasy writing or erotica, and we do not accept flash fiction. Please make sure stories are no more than 4,000 words in length, and only submit one story per submission. 

Poetry should display a commitment to the ultra-specificities of language. Poems should be no longer than 50 lines. Please submit no more than 5 poems in any one submission.

Although we prefer pitches via email for non-fiction (see below), we are open to considering full, finished essays if you have them. When submitting these, please include a brief description of the piece. We accept a broad range of essays, from lyric, memoir and personal to reportage, criticism and features, but please do not submit academic essays or reviews. We have no set word length, but we tend to publish pieces under 4,000 words. You can read past essays here on our website.

We are always open to receiving art, illustrations or photography in our submissions to be featured in our print magazine or accompanying pieces on our website. We also welcome pitches for photo essays.

Work should be submitted via Submittable. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but we ask that you notify us if your submission is accepted elsewhere. Please allow up to 4 months for us to review your work. 

We wish you the best of luck with your submission.

Pitches

In non-fiction, The London Magazine accepts pitches for essays, reviews and interviews. We value writing that is clear, precise and authoritative while remaining accessible to a wide readership. The ideal non-fiction piece balances intellectual rigour with readability, has space for wit without veering into self-indulgence and is informed by genuine expertise or experience.

When submitting a pitch, please include:

• A concise outline of the essay, review or interview, and its central focus
• The primary texts, figures or cultural contexts you intend to engage with
• A sense of structure and projected word count (non-fiction pieces typically run 2,000–5,000 words) 
• A biography and sample writing if you have it 

All pitches should be sent to the editorial team at pitches@thelondonmagazine.org. We aim to get back to you within a month. If it’s time sensitive, please flag that in the subject line.

Essays

We welcome essay submissions that explore literature in its many intersections with culture, politics and the personal. We are looking for writing that is both rigorous and engaging – essays that open unexpected lines of thought and place literature in meaningful dialogue with the world. 

We are interested in essays that:

• Connect literature to wider cultural or historical contexts
• Offer close readings that illuminate something new
• Are rooted in a unique narrative experience or passion, where the writer’s knowledge and commitment shine through
• Explore overlooked writers, scenes, movements and aspects of the culture
• Combine depth of knowledge with narrative clarity and coherence
• Demonstrate originality of thought and a strong authorial voice

We are less likely to consider essays that:

• Lean too heavily on American cultural frames
• Are overly broad zeitgeist commentary pieces
• Revisit familiar subjects already written to exhaustion 
• Rely on gimmicks, try-hard humour or overblown lyricism
• Prioritise academic jargon over clarity or human experience

This essay by Sara Ahmad is a good example of a TLM piece: a partly-reported, partly-reflective piece that grapples with the silence of Muslim victims of the 7/7 bombings, bringing together personal memory, trauma and the politics of speaking. 

Prospective writers might also look to an essay by novelist Rob Doyle on Islamic mysticism in Andalusia, blending travel writing, autofiction and mystical philosophy; Kasra Lang’s piece on London as a city of exile, which draws on work by Hisham Matar and Joseph Conrad; Zuhri James’s formal analysis of Rachel Cusk, examining how her writing tests the boundaries of self-representation; and Adam Heardman’s exploration of Frank Auerbach’s painting practice and how that relates to a history of violence and genocide. 

Reviews 

Book reviews should cover recent publications. As we work on print issues months ahead of publication, we look for review pitches tied to books that will be out by the time the issue appears; we can help coordinate proof copies. We will also consider reviews of books published in the last six months for our website. 

Reviews of more than one book, used to open up wider discussion, are encouraged as well as close readings of single novels or collections that espouse an argument. Ambitious reviews of other cultural works, including exhibitions, films, theatre and events, are also welcome, as well as more unconventional ideas. 

Reviews should be pitched to be no longer than 2,000 words. Notable examples include Joseph Williams’s review of Geoff Dyer’s Homework, Lucy Thynne on Helen Garner’s diaries and Louis Harnett-Omeara on an exhibition of literary posters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Interviews 

Interview pitches should be well-thought out and timely. When pitching, explain both the relevance of the interview and the angle you intend to pursue. Aside from straight-forward Q&A style pieces, we would love to see more pitches for profile writing or reportage that incorporates interview material, like Houman Barekat’s ‘A Conversation about Irish Literature’. Above all, we are looking for interesting characters, conversations and stories. 

Interviews tend to be only on the website. For print, we occasionally publish feature pieces, like this conversation with Viet Thanh Nguyên and this one with Hugo Williams.