Give a subscription to the TLS - The Times Literary Supplement

 

 

Looking for a gift subscription for someone who wants depth, expertise and breadth in their reading and lots of culture?  How about giving them a subscription to the Times Literary Supplement, or the TLS for short, or treating yourself to one?

Take a look at the Times Literary Supplement (TLS for short)!

The TLS covers a range of subjects such as the arts, classics, culture, history, language and linguistics, literature, lives philosophy, politics and society, religion, science and technology and the world.  It has been publishing book reviews and sometimes provocative essays since 1902, and it covers everything from The Tempest to climate change.    There's a Poem of the Week, when the TLS revisits orginal poetry, first published in the TLS, with a new introduciton;  and there's Twenty questions, which is a series of author interviews.  Footnotes to Plato looks at the works and legacies of the great thinkers and philosophers, and there are cartoons, The Podcast and Crossword and Quiz - lots to interest! 

The Times Literary Supplement considers itself to be a the world’s leading journal for literature and ideas;  over the years its contributors have included people such as Virginia Woolf, Henry James, T S Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Ted Hughes, Martin Amis, George Orwell, Doris Lessing and Margaret Atwood.  Today, contributors often include Adam Begley, James Cook, Adam Mars-Jones, Krishan Kumar, Margaret Drabble, James Marcus and Henry Hitchings.  

Subscribe to the TLS, the Times Literary Supplement, here


In the summer of 2025, it moved from a weekly to expanded fortnightly format, and the fortnightly format is published 26 times a year (instead of 50 times) but it has 48 pages instead of just under 30.  And the TLS has relaunched its website, which updates every week and offers new articles as well as digital access to the historic archive.  

In the edition of the 21st August 2026, the TLS includes:

  • British literature, Book Review:  A man of the world:  The versatility of Arthur and his legends by Marion Turner
  • Social & cultural studies, Book Review:  All the lonely people:  Nigerian scammers and their targets by Sally Hayden
  • Commentary, Essay:  Matches struck in the dark:  How William Empson viewd Virginia Woolf's diaries by Mark Thompson
  • Visual Arts, Arts Review:  Pain and trnasformation:  Frida Kahlo, iconized:  'I would not like to become famous' by Miranda France
  • Classics, Book Review:  The mask of Apollo:  A fresh look at Roman theatre by Edith Hall
  • Twentieth-century history & later, Book Review:  This just in:  A historian's view of contemporary Britain by Sam Wetherell
  • Fiction, Book Review:  Borderlands: On the Scottish margins, past and future by Calum Barnes
  • Original poems:  Colon by Julia Copus
  • Poetry, Book Review:  Daughter, be splendid:  Four centuries of women's poetry verse from Ireland, Scotland and Wales by Elizabeth Scott-Baumann
  • Lives, Book Review:  In thes hadow of Parnell:  James JOyce's political views, teased out in an unfinished by extensive biography by Margaret Drabble
  • In Brief, In Brief Review: Jazz carpentry, Building a life in Wit's End by James Cook
  • In Brief, In Brief Review:  The aftermath of loss:  Strange happenings in an ordinary Everyvillage by Brian Morton
  • In Brief, In Brief Review:  Glorious charges, Finding the facts about the Alexander the Great by James Romm
  • n Brief, In Brief Review: Buried wounds:  Exploring the process of trauma by Julia Bueno
  • Afterthoughts, Column:  The glass bridge:  When the crossing becomes the destination by Ian Sansom
  • Commentary, Essay:  Bored of the Rings:  Tolkien and his critics  by D.J. Taylor
  • Letter from, Essay:  Geneva by Alberto Manguel
  • Medicine, Book Review:  Who wants to live for ever?  The claims and reality of longevity research by Kathleen Taylor
  • Medicine, Book Review:  A sense of humours:  The rich cultural history of human fluids by Helena Aeberli
  • and LOTS more!

So there are lots to immerse yourself in with articles on Fiction, Arts, Original Poems, Afterthoughts, In Brief (that's articles which get straight to the point), and podcasts, too - so there's a huge amount to immerse yourself in and discover and think about!  There are also regular features, such as cartoons, a literary crossword and quiz, a regular online column looking at the ethical issues today, and Letters to the Editor.  


Different subscription options…

There are two different options:  digital - and print and digital.  You can compare them and subscribe here.  The digital is the most affordable (one month free, £6.99 a month thereafter) -  it includes unrestricted access to the TLS website, full use of the TLS Archive starting in 1902 and the TLS first-look with the weekly newsletter.   Best value is £89.99 for the year - the Print and Digital.  As well as the previous benefits listed, it also includes the print edition delivered to your door fortnightly.   

 

Give a gift subscription to the Times Literary Supplement today!
Give a gift subscription or treat yourself to the Times Literary Supplement today!

You can view TLS Highlights here to get a further idea of some of the content which the TLS has included.

To purchase a (gift) subscription

Just choose your subscription here and then create a username on the following page.  After that, you can purchase the TLS subscription on behalf of someone else by simply ticking the relevant boxes!  Go to the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) here!