Areté is an arts magazine, published three times a year, edited by the poet Craig Raine. The magazine aims to give detailed coverage of theatre, fiction, and poetry, while also serving as a platform for new writing in all genres.
The magazine has published contributions by a wide range of authors, including Ian McEwan, Patrick Marber, Tom Stoppard, and Julian Barnes. It has also promoted new authors such as Adam Thirlwell, Jeremy Noel-Tod, Peter Morris, James Womack and Tom Welsford.
One of the publication's defining features is "Our Bold", in which the editorial team takes sloppy critics to task. The magazine prides itself on high editorial standards and on close and accurate reading where others appear to have read superficially. Unashamedly nostalgic for the informed critical discourse of magazines such as the Paris Review, it is strongly associated with New College, Oxford. The journal's trademark feather, or quill, which adorns its cover was created by the British artist Mark Alexander.
The journal's name is the Greek word for "virtue", and it is prefaced by a quotation from Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture by Werner Jaeger: