New Escapologist is a UK-based lifestyle magazine. It originally ran between 2007 and 2017, returning to print in 2023 and now ongoing.
Humorous in tone, the magazine takes the stance that work should be escaped if not abolished. Each issue contains features, interviews, book and film reviews, "escape plans," and a roster of regular columnists. It has been described as "whimsical … niche, cheeky, defiant."
History
New Escapologist was founded in 2007. Speaking at a public event together in 2009, the magazine's editor told Tom Hodgkinson that he started New Escapologist after reading Hodgkinson's book How to be Free alongside a biography of Houdini.
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 2014, around the time of the magazine's tenth issue, a spin-off book written by Wringham was announced. Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, the book was published by Unbound on 28 January 2016 followed by a German edition published by Heyne Verlag later that same year.
In 2017, it was announced that the magazine would close after a decade but would continue online as a subscription essay series mediated by Patreon. The first of these essays went live in April 2017. A New Escapologist newsletter also began in December 2022.
New Escapologist returned to print in 2023 after a successful crowdfunding campaign.
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.
More recent issues have dispensed with the logo, the minimalist covers featuring a pair of feet anchored in a different location. The masthead inside the magazine describes these photographs as "the view from [city name]".
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