Editor Robert Wringham Country United Kingdom Website Official website | Frequency Bi-annual Language English ISSN 1755-5671 | |
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New Escapologist is a UK-based lifestyle magazine. It takes the stance that work has too central a position in western life and that work, consumption and pursuit of social status too often take precedence over happiness, liberty, and unstructured leisure. It suggests simple living, creativity and Epicureanism as solutions to the problems of overwork and overconsumption.
Contents
The magazine is edited by humorist Robert Wringham, and sub-edited by Reggie Chamberlain-King, Samara Leibner, Mark Wentworth and Neil Scott.
History
New Escapologist was founded in 2007. Speaking at a public event together in 2009, Wringham told Tom Hodgkinson that he started New Escapologist after reading Hodgkinson's book How to be Free alongside a biography of Houdini and Among the Bohemians: experiments in living by Virginia Nicholson.
A pilot issue was printed in 2007, a first canonical issue in 2008, and a launch party was held at the Glasgow CCA in 2009.
In 2011, New Escapologist organized a zine fair in support of the student occupation of Heatherington House at the University of Glasgow. The same year saw the launch of a fifth issue at The Arches theatre and nightclub, and a sixth issue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In 2014, around the time of the magazine's tenth issue, a spin-off book written by Robert Wringham was announced. Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, the book was published by Unbound on 28 January 2016.
Production
The magazine's distinct typography, according to a colophon printed in the back of each issue, is achieved using Donald Knuth's TeX typesetting system with a layout based on an ancient Ge'ez liturgical text seen at the Matenadaran Manuscripts Museum in Armenia.
The magazine's logo, featured prominently in the masthead of early issues and at the magazine's website is the ISO standard "running man" symbol usually seen on exit signs.