ILLUSTORIA + McSWEENEY’S COMBO SUBSCRIPTION

Giving this combo subscription as a gift? Click here to download an official printable PDF gift notice.

This is the combo subscription for both Illustoria and McSweeney’s Quarterly. For just Illustoria, click here. For just the Quarterly, click here.

“A key barometer of the literary climate.”
—The New York Times on McSweeney’s Quarterly

“This is the kind of magazine you keep on your bookshelves with your favorite books.”
— Cece Bell, author of El Deafo, on Illustoria magazine

Whether a literal family in need of reading material to enjoy at the proverbial Sunday morning breakfast table, or an individual lover of both high-quality literature and the very best in children’s illustration, the Illustoria-McSweeney’s Quarterly Combo Subscription has something for every reader in your life.

Subscribe now to receive the next four issues of our always surprising, always redesigned, three-time National Magazine Award-winning literary journal, featuring the best fiction and nonfiction we can get our hands on, AND the next three issues of the beloved art and storytelling magazine for children and their grownups, celebrating visual storytelling, makers, and DIY culture through stories, art, comics, interviews, crafts, and activities, delivered right to your doorstep at an absolutely cannot-be-beat price.

With the sort of year we have planned, there’s never been a better time to subscribe. Here’s what we have up our collective sleeves next:

McSweeney’s Issue 68
Coming this October, the 68th issue of our National Magazine Award-winning McSweeney’s Quarterly features stories of duplicity and deception, double lives and secret histories, waiting for you underneath a cover by Italian artist Daniele Castellano (inspired by the Roman god Janus depicting duality in its many forms). Inside, readers will find an essay by Alejandro Zambra on soccer sadness; an epic, time-bending short story from Carmen Maria Machado; and new work from National Book Award finalist Lisa Ko. Like all editions of McSweeney’s, this issue includes work from established contemporary talents (Catherine Lacey, Andrew Martin, Laura van den Berg) alongside fresh emerging voices (Stephanie Ullmann, Hallie Gayle). Readers will find new translations of Peruvian writer Santiago Roncagliolo and Italian novelist Andrea Bajani, and a little diamond of flash fiction by James Yeh. Compiled by visiting editor Daniel Gumbiner, McSweeney’s Issue 68 offers a host of delights and surprises, from some of the world’s best writers.

Illustoria #19: Cats & Dogs
A deluxe double issue for dog AND cat lovers featuring cover art by Jon Klassen.

Are you a fan of felines? Start from the cat side, and read about the cat heroes from your favorite fiction. Check out the factoids section for astonishing news about world-record-breaking kitties. Navigate a cat face maze and make origami cats from sticky notes. Are you devoted to pups? Flip the magazine over to delve into the inner lives of canines, with art curated by Nathaniel Russell. DogChef demonstrates paw-print cookies while also sharing behind-the-scenes tales in an exclusive interview! Try out our story-starter cards for writing exercises, hear what student writers from around the world have to say, and check out recommendations for pet-themed books.

McSweeney’s Issue 69
Just in time for the holidays, the sixty-ninth issue of our National Magazine Award-winning McSweeney’s Quarterly is a gift to adventurous readers. Featuring an irresistible mix of original fiction from daring new voices and beloved favorites, this issue is certain to delight one and all. Often hilarious and always surprising, these are tales of contemporary life flipped and twisted, skewed and skewered.

Inside this supermarket pulp-inspired paperback featuring cover art by Benjamin Marra, readers will find a novelette about a sex co-op by Lydia Conklin; a relato about Veracruz dockworkers by Fernanda Melchor; a story about an eccentric childhood neighbor by Julie Hecht; speculative fiction about mothers and daughters in the apocalypse by Siqi Liu; a shocking tale of baby bath time by Zach Williams; a DeafBlind remix of an ancient Indian fable by John Lee Clark; an encounter with your dimmer, more winsome doppelgänger by Yohanca Delgado; and much more. Not only that, we’ve gathered for you painfully new fiction about feral “glamping” trips (Max Delsohn) and mysterious deep-fakers (Mikkel Rosengaard), ghoulish bachelorette parties (Mel Kassel) and obstreperous crank-yankers (Evan James)—all topped off by an extended post-breakup stay at your nearest fast-food joint (Leila Renee). Prepare to be entertained by letters from Ikechukwu Ufomadu, April Ayers Lawson, Anelise Chen, Bianca Giaever, and Ricardo Frasso Jaramillo; drift away to a trash-strewn island in a full-color psychedelic comic by Connor Willumsen.

Compiled by visiting editor James Yeh, McSweeney’s 69 is a vast topography of literary thrills and spills that you’ll return to again and again.

And then?
Keep an eye out for more collections of the kind of cutting-edge literary content readers of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern have come to expect for over two decades; and more, guaranteed to thrill and delight readers of all ages.

IMPORTANT LOGISTICAL INFORMATION: All subscriptions placed by November 15 will begin with McSweeney’s 68 as their first issue of McSweeney’s Quarterly and Issue 19: Dogs & Cats as their first issue of Illustoria. All subscriptions to McSweeney’s Quarterly automatically renew after four issues, at a reduced price of $75, with Illustoria subscriptions automatically renewing after three issues at a price of $40. In the event of any future rate changes, we will notify you via email. If you’d like to cancel either subscription at any time prior to its renewal, you can log in to your account and adjust settings or send an email to custservice@mcsweeneys.net with the subject lines “End Quarterly Renew,” “End Illustoria Renew,” or “End Combo Renew” depending on your desires. Refunds will be accepted only up until the first issue of your renewal is shipped. If you’d like to give just the Quarterly Concern as a one-time gift, purchase a gift subscription here. Any subscriptions bought with the “gift” box marked at checkout will not be enrolled in autorenew.

Praise for Illustoria

“[A] beautifully produced print magazine that invites young readers to revisit arresting pages again and again … Illustoria is a visual feast, with a focus on storytelling through art and literature. In addition to crafts and art projects, Illustoria presents stories through comics, and profiles illustrators, artists, and makers … [with] messages of compassion and inclusivity … bursting with creative ideas and inspiration.”
—“Our Favorite Gifts for 6- to 10-year-olds,” Wirecutter, The New York Times

“It’s a rewarding offering that I hope sticks around for many years down the line.”
—Julie Danielson, Kirkus Reviews, blogger of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“[A] visually exciting magazine with a DIY attitude … offer[s] plentiful opportunities for engagement, while the quality artwork and inventive layouts are sure to inspire imaginative responses.”
—School Library Journal

“Cover to cover, its content and aesthetics are smart, modern and engaging. Illustoria is a magazine I would’ve loved to have growing up.”
— Michelle Sterling, Avery & Augustine

Praise for McSweeney’s Quarterly

“Ever shape-shifting and ambitious, McSweeney’s has redefined what a literary institution can be. Their commitment to publishing strong, strange voices and stories from the periphery has always been an inspiration and I’m always excited to see what they’ll do next.”
—Catherine Lacey, McSweeney’s contributor and author of The Answers

“McSweeney’s is so much more than a magazine; it’s a vital part of our culture.”
—Geoff Dyer, McSweeney’s contributor and author of Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi and Otherwise Known as the Human Condition

“Some magazines are comfort reads. We turn to them because we can almost predict, issue to issue, what and even who will appear in them. But others, like McSweeney’s, are challenge reads. They’re feverishly inventive, discomfortingly surprising, and therefore among the best reminders that we are actually alive. I love shouting at McSweeney’s, laughing with it, and rolling my eyes at myself while the magazine reads me like a deceptively perceptive carnival psychic.”
—John D’Agata, The Believer contributor and author of Halls of Fame and About a Mountain

“I’m incredibly grateful for the existence of McSweeney’s. Its embrace of world literature is completely unique, lucid, knowing and indispensable.”
—Francisco Goldman, McSweeney’s contributor and acclaimed author of The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle and The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?

Looking for back issues of Illustoria? Visit Illustoria.com.