Genii columnist Jim Hagy has been publishing magic for over six decades. As he contributes his bimonthly column “Sleightly Astonishing,” Jim also publishes Perennial Mystics Squared, a periodical designed to celebrate magic’s history, through different styles and different voices—in a published format for stories that may not otherwise be told.
Jim sat down with The Magic Book Podcast to discuss his work as a magic historian, author, and publisher, and to talk about his early days as a magic publisher—starting at age 11. A key part of the conversation centers around Jim’s latest books, Animal Wizards: A Critical History of Magicians' Most Trusting Assistants, and Animal Wizards: An Insider's Guide, which Michael Claxton reviewed in the August 2025 of Genii.
“After 60-plus years at the fringes of the magic community, I learned something every single day in the three years of this project about the intersection between human magicians and what I call animal wizards: non-human magicians in the 19th and early 20th centuries,” reveals Hagy in his interview with podcast host, Adrian Tennant.
Learn more about this magic historian, author, educator—and Genii columnist!— and his amazing contribution to magic literature by listening to The Magic Book Podcast’s episode, “Jim Hagy: Chronicling Magicians and their Audiences.”
