The Idler

Editor

Tom Hodgkinson was born in Newcastle in 1968. He was educated at Westminster School and Jesus College, Cambridge. In 1989-90 he worked behind the counter at the skateboarding shop Slam City Skates and independent record shop Rough Trade for a year, before spending two unhappy years as a researcher at the Sunday Mirror. He was sacked in 1993 and while on the dole set up the Idler magazine. After publishing five issues from home, the magazine was taken under the wing of the Guardian’s marketing department, and Tom and his partner art director Gavin Pretor-Pinney spent three years at the Guardian working on special projects. They left to set up a freelance agency and for one year the Idler was published by Zone. Then the pair were distracted from the magazine by an absinthe-importing business which came to fruition in 1999. They relaunched the Idler in late 1999 as a bi-annual, self-published book. They financed themselves by producing publications and ads for clients such as Sony Playstation and Channel 4. In 2002, Tom quit his London work and moved out of London to write his first book, How To Be Idle. This was published in 2004 by Hamish Hamilton and was followed by How To Be Free in 2006. Meanwhile, Ebury Press published seven issues of the Idler. In 2007, Gavin quit the Idler to work on his own projects, most notably The Cloudspotter’s Guide. Tom now publishes the Idler with Christian Brett of Bracketpress. Tom’s third book, The Idle Parent, was published in Spring 2009, and his fourth book, Brave Old World, is released in July 2011. In March 2011, Tom and his wife Victoria Hull opened a bookshop and café in West London. They live in a rented farmhouse in North Devon with their three children.