Slightly Foxed

This article is about the magazine. For the condition in books, see Foxing.
Slightly Foxed
Issue 58
EditorHazel Wood and Gail Pirkis
CategoriesLiterature, books
FrequencyQuarterly
PublisherSlightly Foxed
Paid circulation10,000[1]
Founded2004
CountryUnited Kingdom
Based inHoxton, London
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.foxedquarterly.com

Slightly Foxed is a British quarterly literary magazine. Its primary focus is books and book culture. It was established by former John Murray editors Hazel Wood and Gail Pirkis.[2] Notable authors to have written for the magazine include Penelope Lively, Richard Mabey, Diana Athill, Ronald Blythe and Robert Macfarlane.[3]

Instead of books currently marketed by big publishers, Slightly Foxed tends to examine older and more obscure titles. Its title comes from the term "slightly foxed" as a description of a book's physical quality, commonly used in the second-hand book trade to describe minor foxing, the occurrence of brown spots on older paper.

As well as the magazine itself, Slightly Foxed has a books imprint.[4] Original books published by the imprint include Philip Evans' Country Doctor's Common Place Book [5][6][7] and Charles Phillipson’s Letters to Michael (selected by the Telegraph as one of the best books of 2021).[8] The imprint has also reissued a number of classic works and children's books, including Rosemary Sutcliff's novels about Roman Britain and the Carey novels of Ronald Welch.[9]

Since 2014, the magazine has sponsored the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize for the best first biography or literary memoir published each year.[10] In 2023, the prize was won jointly by Katherine Rundell for her biography of John Donne, Super-Infinite, and Osman Yousefzada for his memoir The Go-Between.[11] Winners from previous years include Edmund Gordon for The Invention of Angela Carter [12] and Alan Cumming for Not My Father’s Son. [13]

In addition to the quarterly magazine, Slightly Foxed produces a podcast about books, book culture and writers.[14]

Between 2009 and 2016 Slightly Foxed ran a bookshop of the same name on London's Gloucester Road.[15]

The magazine's offices are based at Hoxton Square, London, N1.

  1. ^ "A Celebration of Slightly Foxed Readers". Official website. Retrieved 13 June 2023
  2. ^ "Outfoxing the digital revolution". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  3. ^ Slightly Foxed: A Potted History Official website. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  4. ^ Our Books Official website. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  5. ^ Jones, Roger (2018-11-29). "Books: A Country Doctor's Commonplace Book: Wonders and Absurdities". British Journal of General Practice. 68 (677): 585.2–585. doi:10.3399/bjgp18x700085. ISSN 0960-1643. PMC 6255243. PMID 30498155.
  6. ^ Berkmann, Marcus (2018-11-22). "Top of the Christmas lists". The Spectator. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  7. ^ Thorpe, Vanessa (2018-12-02). "GP's diary of the absurd set to be surprise festive hit". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  8. ^ Writers, Telegraph (2021-12-22). "The 75 best books of 2021 to read this winter". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
  9. ^ Barnes, Clive (2016-12-01). "A View of War and Soldiering in the Carey Novels of Ronald Welch". Children's Literature in Education. 47 (4): 300–324. doi:10.1007/s10583-015-9269-8. ISSN 1573-1693. S2CID 254377824.
  10. ^ "The Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize | The Biographers' Club". The Biographer's Club. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  11. ^ "Rundell and Yousefzada scoop Slightly Foxed prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  12. ^ Leith, Sam (2018-03-07). "Angela Carter biography wins award". The Spectator. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  13. ^ "Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize". ALAN CUMMING. 2015-11-05. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  14. ^ Dunn, Daisy (2020-11-05). "The shocking story of Charles and Mary Lamb: Slightly Foxed podcast reviewed". The Spectator. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  15. ^ Slightly Foxed Bookshop to close at the end of the month The Bookseller. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.