A new online culture and science magazine called Aeon is being launched next month.
The team is led by managing editor Ed Lake, the former deputy editor of The National’s literary supplement The Review.
It also includes former New Statesman arts editor Marina Benjamin, who joins as senior editor, and assistant editor Lizzie Kirkwood, whose work has been published in Prospect and The Guardian.
Ross Andersen, the Washington-based science editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books and a correspondent for the Atlantic, joins the team as contributing editor.
In a release its publishers said: “The magazine will feature original long-form articles, as well as shorter features, by the world’s leading writers, thinkers and experts, with a new article added to the site each weekday.
“Illuminated by specially commissioned photography and illustrations, AEON will provide the immersive experience of a print magazine – in an exclusively digital form, with no paywall.”
Early contributors include former New York Times science reporter Dava Sobel, the bestselling author of Longitude; freelance writer Dan Hancox, whose work on politics and music appears in The Guardian, New Statesman and Prospect; author and journalist Jay Griffiths; author Amal Ghandourl University of Oxford physicist and prize-winning author David Deutsch and cognitive neuroscientist Steve Fleming.
Aeon hopes to create a new platform for long-form journalism, an “area which has declined in recent years in traditional print media, as well as provide its contributors with a forum to spark debate”.
The publication is the brainchild of Paul and Brigid Hains, Aeon’s publisher and editor.
Brigid Hains, editor said: “We believe that there is a need to find new ways to talk about the ideas, values and beliefs that make us tick. Recruiting insightful writers, with a deep understanding of their subjects is the best way to get that started.
“At the same time, the digital market is maturing, and beautiful design, original art and documentary photography are now essential in communicating with an audience.”
Ed Lake, managing editor added: “We have created a distinctive publication, with thoughtful and probing essays by excellent writers which we believe will satisfy a thirst for ideas amongst increasingly sophisticated readers. We hope AEON will be enjoyed by those with a desire to take a ‘scenic route’ to the big issues of our time.”
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