In which publication did J.R.R. Tolkien’s story “Leaf by Niggle” first appear?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s story “Leaf by Niggle” first appeared in The Dublin Review.

The story was published in 1945, during a period when Tolkien was balancing academic work with the composition of The Lord of the Rings. It follows Niggle, a painter who becomes absorbed in creating a vast tree while struggling with everyday obligations and interruptions.

Readers and scholars often interpret the story as an allegory about artistic creation, duty, mortality, and the limits of unfinished work. Tolkien resisted simple one-to-one allegorical readings, but the narrative clearly engages with the experience of making art and with the tension between a creator’s grand vision and practical life.

“Leaf by Niggle” was later reprinted in collections including Tree and Leaf. It is sometimes overlooked beside Tolkien’s Middle-earth novels, yet it offers one of his clearest fictional reflections on the nature of art and sub-creation.