BELIEVER MAGAZINE AND McSWEENEY’S QUARTERLY COMBO SUBSCRIPTION

$155.00 $145.00
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“Ever shape-shifting and ambitious, McSweeney’s has redefined what a literary institution can be.”
—Catherine Lacey, McSweeney’s contributor and author of Pew

Reunited and it feels so good. After a half decade away, the award-winning Believer magazine is back at McSweeney’s. To celebrate, we’re bringing back our oldest combo of all: the Believer + McSweeney’s Quarterly Combo Subscription. An awe-inspiring cornucopia of literary content awaits you.

This combo subscription brings you four issues of interviews, essays, and reviews in this beloved and deluxe illustrated sixty-four-page printed magazine AND four issues of our thrilling and always boundary-pushing acclaimed literary journal. Cumulatively these pages have found themselves finalists for the National Magazine Award nearly an even two dozen times, and been home to some of the most exciting authors working today. Treat yourself and welcome our dearest old friends back into the McSweeney’s fold once more.

Here’s a preview of what you’ll find coming your way

McSweeney’s 76: Aftershocks
McSweeney’s 76: Aftershocks is a collection of contemporary Syrian prose—short stories, novel excerpts, and plays—that chronicles the literal and metaphorical earthquakes that haunt the Syrian people. Guest-edited by acclaimed Syrian American journalist Alia Malek, and encompassing the work of eight Arabic translators and sixteen Syrian writers (some of which have never before been translated in English), these contributors write across diasporic and refugee experiences, as well as from inside present-day Syria. In these pages, skeletons fall in love, Damascus alleys become time portals, letters tucked in bullet wounds reanimate the dead, minarets gush blood, and photographs become more human than humans. The requisite actors in these stories, and in any conflict (and crime)—victim, killer, survivor—are blurred and intimate. Magical realism, the absurd, and the surreal course through these pages. These stories ask us to imagine the unimaginable. They ask not “what is real?” but rather “how can this be real?”

The Believer Issue 148: The Art Issue
In The Believer’s 2024 Art Issue: Pepper Stetler reports from an art center for adults with intellectual disabilities that sees both creativity and work as fundamental human rights; Ross Simonini considers the immortal power of artistic persona; Nicole Lavelle profiles ceramicist Win Ng, cofounder of one of America’s first ever lifestyle brands; and, in an epistolary essay, Hilton Als writes about painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s inimitable use of color. We also have interviews with Annie Leibovitz, An-My Lê, Martine Syms, performance artist Michael Smith, and legendary muralist Judy Baca, plus a schema on Black models in Western art by Zaria Ware.

In our columns section, you’ll find Nick Hornby’s art-themed reading list, Chelsea Ryoko Wong’s daily routine, Monica Datta’s resurrection of Black Square by Kazimir Malevich, and Carrie Brownstein’s advice to a pet portraitist. On top of all that, and in honor of this special themed issue, every copy comes with a handily detachable, many-paged gift guide, featuring recommendations from artists, such as Marcel Dzama, Rebecca Morgan, Micah Lexier, Clare Rojas, and more. Gift ideas include, but are not limited to, knives, pens, jam jars, holy wafers, tape dispensers, chocolate with pistachios, and industrial pancake makers. If all that wasn’t enough, subscribers to the print version of The Believer will also receive a limited-edition 2025 calendar featuring original work by acclaimed artist Nina Chanel Abney.

IMPORTANT LOGISTICAL INFORMATION: This is a one time combo price, all subscriptions to The Believer automatically renew after four issues at a cost of $55, while subscriptions to McSweeney’s Quarterly automatically renew after four issues at 15% off the price of a regular sub (currently $80.75). In the event of any future rate changes, we will notify you via email. If you’d like to cancel your subscription at any time prior to its auto-renewal, you can log in to your account and adjust your subscription settings. Or send an email to custservice@mcsweeneys.net with the subject line “End Quarterly Autorenew,” “End Believer Autorenew,” or “End Combo Autorenew.” Refunds will be accepted only up until the first issue of your renewal is shipped. Subscriptions placed by February 1, 2025, will begin with McSweeney’s 76: Aftershocks, and The Believer Issue 148: The Art Issue. If you’d like to give the Quarterly Concern as a one-time gift, purchase a gift subscription here. Any subscription purchased with the “gift” option marked at checkout will not be enrolled in autorenew.

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