''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by

News UK News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...

, a subsidiary of News Corp.

History

The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' but became a separate publication in 1914. Many distinguished writers have contributed, including T. S. Eliot,

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

and

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

. Reviews were normally anonymous until 1974, when signed reviews were gradually introduced during the editorship of

John Gross John Gross FRSL (12 March 1935 – 10 January 2011) was an eminent English man of letters. A leading intellectual, writer, anthologist, and critic, ''The Guardian'' (in a tribute titled "My Hero") and ''The Spectator'' were among several pu ...

. This aroused great controversy. "Anonymity had once been appropriate when it was a general rule at other publications, but it had ceased to be so", Gross said. "In addition I personally felt that reviewers ought to take responsibility for their opinions." Martin Amis was a member of the editorial staff early in his career.

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, ''The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, ''Jill'' (1946) and ''A Girl in Winter'' (1947 ...

's poem "Aubade", his final poetic work, was first published in the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

-week issue of the ''TLS'' in 1977. While it has long been regarded as one of the world's pre-eminent critical publications, its history is not without gaffes: it missed

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

entirely, and commented only negatively on

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

from 1945 until 1978, when a portrait of his appeared on the cover. Its editorial offices are based in The News Building, London. It is edited by

Martin Ivens Martin Paul Ivens (born 29 August 1958) is an English journalist and editor of ''The Times Literary Supplement''. He is a former editor of ''The Sunday Times''. Early life Ivens, who was born in Hampstead in North London, is the son of Michael Iv ...

, who succeeded

Stig Abell Stephen "Stig" Paul Abell (born 10 April 1980) is an English journalist, newspaper editor and radio presenter. He currently co-presents the Monday to Thursday breakfast show on Times Radio with Aasmah Mir. Abell was from 2016 to 2020 editor ...

in June 2020. The ''TLS'' has included essays, reviews and poems by

D. M. Thomas Donald Michael Thomas (born 27 January 1935), is a British poet, translator, novelist, editor, biographer and playwright. His work has been translated into 30 languages. Working primarily as a poet throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Thomas's 1981 ...

, John Ashbery,

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the '' Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the ''Cosmicomi ...

Patricia Highsmith Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley. She wrote 22 novel ...

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himself ...

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and former politician, who also holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Ll ...

, Joseph Brodsky,

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...

Orhan Pamuk Ferit Orhan Pamuk (born 7 June 1952) is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, his work has sold over thirteen million books in sixty-three lan ...

Geoffrey Hill Sir Geoffrey William Hill, FRSL (18 June 1932 – 30 June 2016) was an English poet, professor emeritus of English literature and religion, and former co-director of the Editorial Institute, at Boston University. Hill has been considered to be ...

and

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

, among others. Many writers have described the publication as indispensable;

, novelist and the 2010 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, had once described the ''TLS'' as "the most serious, authoritative, witty, diverse and stimulating cultural publication in all the five languages I speak".

Editors

* 1902:

James Thursfield Sir James Richard Thursfield (16 November 1840 – 22 November 1923) was a British naval historian and journalist. As well as being an authority on naval matters, he was also the first editor of the ''Times Literary Supplement''. Thursfield ...

* 1902: Bruce Richmond * 1938:

D. L. Murray David Leslie Murray (1888–1962) was a British writer and editor of the ''Times Literary Supplement'' from 1938 to 1945. Biography Murray was born in London on 5 February 1888. He was educated at Harrow School and Balliol College, Oxford ...

(David Leslie Murray) * 1945:

Stanley Morison Stanley Arthur Morison (6 May 1889 – 11 October 1967) was a British typographer, printing executive and historian of printing. Largely self-educated, he promoted higher standards in printing and an awareness of the best printing and typefaces o ...

* 1948:

Alan Payan Pryce-Jones Lt-Col. Alan Payan Pryce-Jones TD (18 November 1908 – 22 January 2000) was a British book critic, writer, journalist and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician. He was notably editor of ''The Times Literary Supplement'' from 1948 to 1959. ...

* 1959:

Arthur Crook Arthur Charles William Crook (16 February 1912 – 15 July 2005) was an English writer and former editor of the ''The Times Literary Supplement, Times Literary Supplement''. Crook was educated at Beacon High, Holloway County Grammar School and did ...

* 1974:

* 1981:

Jeremy Treglown The biographer, cultural historian and critic Jeremy Treglown (born 24 May 1946) is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick. He was editor of ''The Times Literary Supplement'' through the 1980s and Chair of the Arvon Foundation, 2017-2 ...

* 1991:

Ferdinand Mount Sir William Robert Ferdinand Mount, 3rd Baronet, FRSL (born 2 July 1939), is a British writer, novelist, and columnist for ''The Sunday Times'', as well as a political commentator. Life Ferdinand Mount, brought up by his parents in the isolate ...

* 2003:

Peter Stothard Sir Peter Stothard (born 28 February 1951) is a British author, journalist and critic. From 1992 to 2002 he was editor of ''The Times'' and from 2002 to 2016 editor of ''The Times Literary Supplement'', the only journalist to have held both role ...

* 2016:

* 2020:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Times Literary Supplement 1902 establishments in the United Kingdom Book review magazines Literary magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1902 Magazines published in London Newspaper supplements News UK Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom

History

Editors

See also

References

Further reading

External links