The London Magazine has been responsible for publishing some of the most significant literature in British history. From Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats to T. S. Eliot, Sylvia Plath, Dylan Thomas and Doris Lessing, today it remains at the forefront with the best contemporary writing. Its writers on art have included John Richardson, Alan Bowness, Edward Lucie-Smith and Mel Gooding and it has featured original work by Graham Sutherland, Prunella Clough, Maggie Hambling and Frank Auerbach.
Inside this issue, exclusive work from:
H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad – An excerpt of Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad’s speech given at Clarence House on 17th December in the presence of HRH Prince Charles. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad is the Chief Advisor for Religious and Cultural Affairs and Personal Envoy of H.M. The King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Sir John Tusa – The former head of the BBC World Service is the fifth writer in our series ‘My London’ where writers say what London has meant to them.
Grey Gowrie – reviews Country House Opera and the performance of Wagner’s Ring cycle at Longborough Festival Opera.
Featured in this issue:
Fiction
New short stories, ‘Vermillion’ by Alison Joseph and ‘Chest of Drawers’ by Harriet Kline, the winning story from The London Magazine’s 2013 Short Story Competition, announced in January at our prestigious and official annual reception at the House of Commons.
Poetry
From Peggy Aleander, Maggie Butt, Will Eaves, Desmond Graham, Michael O’Neill, Jeff Phelps, Peter Robinson, Bernard Saint and George Tardios.
Essays
Peter Abbs, the Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at Sussex University gives us an overview on the Poetics of Romanticism
Edward Lucie-Smith argues that there is trouble in the Avant-Garde, whilst referring to last years Frieze London Art Fair.
Stoddard Martin on Beryl Bainbridge’s major phase in the ‘Duckworth Cenacle’ along with her contemporaries including Caroline Moorehead, Penelope Fitzgerald and The Haycrafts.
Jeffrey Meyers on the struggle and triumph of Publishing Remembering Iris Murdoch
Elisabeth Russell Taylor on the greatest Italian poet since Dante – Leopardi and his ancestral city Recanati.
Reviews
David Cooke reviews the latest poetry collections from William Bedford, Jean Sprackland and Helen Mort.
Mark Hutchings reviews James Evan’s book Merchant Adventurers; a story of England’s exploration and maritime history.
Terry Kelly critiques two new books: Robert Colls study on George Orwell English Rebel and Richard Burton’s A Strong Song Tows Us: The Life of Basil Bunting
Paul Williamson on Catherine Pickstock’s literary and philosophical book Repetition and Identity