London Review of Books /

The London Review of Books (or LRB) is a fortnightly British magazine of literary and intellectual essays. The LRB was founded in 1979, during the year-long lock-out at The Times. Its founding editors were Karl Miller, then professor of English at University College London, Mary-Kay Wilmers, formerly an editor at The Times Literary Supplement, and Susannah Clapp, a former editor at Jonathan Cape. For its first six months, it appeared as an insert in the New York Review of Books. In May 1980, the London Review became an independent publication with an orientation described by one of its leading contributors as 'consistently radical.' Unlike the TLS, the majority of the articles the LRB publishes (usually fifteen per issue) are long essays. Some articles in each issue are not based around books, while several short articles discuss film or exhibitions. Political and social editorials or essays are frequent. Mary-Kay Wilmers, the current editor, took over from Miller in 1992. Average circulation per issue from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009 was 48,555.