In an era of soundbites and quick reads, the London Review of Books successfully defies the trend. It exuberantly publishes long articles every fortnight in a format known as the long form essay, also popular in the US, in magazines such as the Atlantic and the New Yorker. This is a paean to the pleasures of the lengthy read at a time when much of our culture is moulded by the squeeze on time and the appetite for instant gratification. The current issue of the LRB, for instance, features writer Andrew O'Hagan's frustrated and highly amusing attempts to ghostwrite the autobiography of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange. It runs to 26,000 words, a marathon of good writing.

The LRB – celebrated in today's New Review – has the aura of tradition but it was only launched in 1979. The editor Mary-Kay Wilmers, 75, was also one of its co-founders. The magazine offers a mix of reviews, reflections and investigations, sometimes controversial, as when academic Mary Beard, writing in the aftermath of 9/11, suggested that some believed America "had it coming". The majority of the acclaimed writers are men, which has recently drawn criticism but since we are in a period in which there is an extraordinary flourishing of young female writers, Wilmers – who has pledged to address the imbalance – has a rich source of potential contributors at her disposal that can only further boost the rising readership.

The LRB's essays – James Meek on what's gone wrong with housing, for example – explore an idea or an issue in some depth. As Elizabeth Day writes in the New Review, the LRB "provides a space in which intelligent people can think differently; in which discomfiting thoughts can be voiced and provoking arguments can be aired with enough room to breathe". It is an expensive business. The LRB was estimated to be £27m in debt in 2010, but stays afloat supported by Wilmers' family trust fund.

Long – and that is the operative word – may it continue.