THE BELIEVER 145 (SPRING 2024)

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In Issue 145 of The Believer, Meara Sharma meditates on the life of a largely-forgotten Caribbean writer; Eula Biss writes about the challenges of love after apartheid; Ann Beattie describes the aesthetic pleasures of arranging short stories; and Zefyr Lisowski looks back at the prolific career of trans dollmaker Greer Lankton.

We also have interviews with authors Hernan Diaz and Mona Simpson, podcaster Monica Padman, and sportswriter Marcus Thompson II, as well as a new comic from George Gene Gustines on being a sixteen-year-old letter hack. Plus, Kent Monkman finds his “wiggle,” Susan Steinberg reflects on American Psycho as assigned reading, and Emma Copley Eisenberg writes about all that Eastwick, Philadelphia used to be. All this plus newsprung guest columns from Daniel Halpern and Madeleine Thien, Jenny Slate-penned trivia, as well as poems, book reviews, a historical survey of art-world pejoratives, and more.

Table of Contents:

Underway
by Jordan Kisner

Resurrector: American Psycho
by Susan Steinberg

The Routine
by Madeleine Thien

The Process: Kent Monkman
by Alessandro Tersigni

How to Join the Cult of Alternate-Side Parking
by Lexi Kent-Monning

Marcus Thompson II
interviewed by Alan Chazaro

“Arrangements”
by Ann Beattie

Close Read: Rodrigues-Oliveira, et al.
by Veronique Greenwood

“Love and Murder in South Africa”
by Eula Biss
What does a 1990 memoir have to tell us about apartheid and its ongoing consequences?

“I Was a Teenage Letterhack!”
a new comic by George Gene Gustines

“The Radiant Force of the Incline”
by Meara Sharma
A gifted writer of the Harlem Renaissance, Eric Walrond was poised for greatness—then he made some nonstrategic, perfectly human choices.

“The Robbery”
a new poem by Natalie Eilbert

Hernan Diaz
interviewed by Nick Hilden

“Uncanny Valley of the Dolls”
by Zefyr Lisowski
The life of trans artist Greer Lankton, who, over many years, painstakingly crafted more than three hundred humanlike companions.

Object: Glass Tile
by Benjamin Cohen

Monica Padman
interviewed by Rachel Khong

Schema: Withering Art Burns
by Bryce Woodcock

Sacrifice Zone: Eastwick
by Emma Copley Eisenberg

Mona Simpson
interviewed by Yvonne Conza

“Diasporic”
a new poem by Michael Prior

The Way Back
by Daniel Halpern

One-Page Reviews
Short reviews of small press books, featuring Daniel Elkind on S. J. Perelman, Kristen Martin on Diego Gerard Morrison, Rosa Boshier González on Hanna Johansson, and Deb Olin Unferth on Danielle Dutton.

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