Hello from all of us at Exact Editions; we hope you’re keeping well and staying safe.

If you’re seeking reading material while at home, we’ve got a treat for you today! It’s time for another Publisher 1-On-1, today with the lovely Anna Kirk who is responsible for Editorial, Sales & Marketing at literary quarterly Slightly Foxed. 

Slightly Foxed is more like a well-read friend than a literary review. Each issue offers 96 pages of lively and unstuffy personal recommendations for fiction and non-fiction books of lasting interest — books that have stood the test of time and have left their mark on the people who write about them.

Individual and institutional subscriptions to the complete archive, stretching back to 2004, are available in the Exact Editions online shops. 

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On with the interview! Let’s see what how Anna started working on the title:

1) What’s your role within Slightly Foxed?

As we’re a small independent publisher, we have the pleasure of wearing quite a few hats. My role is threefold: editorial, marketing, and supplying and growing our list of bookshops and stockists.

2) What attracted you to the magazine publishing industry?

It wasn’t so much magazine publishing in general, but Slightly Foxed in particular that attracted me to the industry. I’ve always been a booklover, and the eclectic, wide-ranging reviews in the magazine appealed. Though traditional in presentation, with high production values, Slightly Foxed doesn’t follow the fashions of the literary world; it is simply good writing about good books.

3) Who’s your favourite author and why?

It’s impossible to narrow it down to one favourite author, but an honourable mention is Margaret Drabble. I return to her novel The Millstone, published in 1965, every few years, and it strikes me in new and relevant ways on each reading; it feels contemporary still. Margaret Drabble has written for the magazine and we were delighted to have her as a guest on a recent episode of the Slightly Foxed podcast, talking about her life in writing.

4) If you weren’t working in publishing, what would you be doing?

I think I would end up working with books in some form or another, perhaps through bookselling or events.

5) Do you have an all-time favourite Slightly Foxed issue?

It is very difficult to single out any one issue, especially as the nature of SF is to have something for everyone in each issue, with its broad range of subjects and authors. 

However, publishing Issue 60 of the quarterly in Winter 2018 did feel like a milestone. This issue has specially commissioned illustrated endpapers by Posy Simmonds and includes some particularly entertaining pieces — from Dickens to Alan Bennett to a guide to modern guitar playing.

Winter 2018 Issue of Slightly Foxed

6) Which country have you enjoyed visiting most?

I’ve never visited anywhere quite like Budapest; it was one of the most colourful, interesting, fun cities to explore. Though I need to work on the language . . .

7) What changes do you think that 2020 will bring for the publishing industry?

There’s been some heartening news about independent bookshops of late, with more opening than closing for the first time in years, so I hope that these spaces will continue to flourish alongside advances in technology and reading on the go.

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Thanks for your wonderful answers Anna! If you’d like to be featured on an upcoming instalment of our Publisher 1-On-1 series, please get in touch on publisher@exacteditions.com.