THE BELIEVER SUBSCRIPTION (INCLUDES NINA CHANEL ABNEY CALENDAR WHILE SUPPLIES LAST)

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Exclusive: while supplies last all Believer subscriptions will include a limited-edition wall calendar designed by Nina Chanel Abney.

A thirteen-time National Magazine Award finalist. Named the best magazine of 2022 by Alta.

The Believer has come home! After a half decade away, the award-winning Believer is back at McSweeney’s. Subscribe now, and four times a year, you will receive, in perfect-bound print, all the articles, interviews, reviews, poems, and columns you’ve grown to love, plus a host of brand-new features, reportage, games, puzzles, and more. You will have the opportunity to study up close the beautiful illustrations, the short- and long-form comics, and the work of our regular raft of guest artists and photographers. You can pore over each issue’s two-page vertically oriented schema spread, more or less unreproducible online. You will enjoy the feel of the sumptuous recycled acid-free heavy stock paper against your hands, fingertips, and face.

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

The Believer Issue 147
Inside Issue 147: Will McGrath tags along with a basketball team of Somali American teenagers as they journey from Minnesota to the Sunshine State for a national tournament; R. Emmet Sweeney describes the many attempts to adapt a bestselling 2,500-page Tamil epic for film; Mychal Denzel Smith turns to online chess after the loss of his mother leaves him unable to write; Sandy Ernest Allen traces our cultural depictions of electroshock therapy; and Boots Riley, in a sprawling interview with Annalee Newitz, discusses comic books, labor strikes, and conversations as art form. You’ll also find interviews with Kaveh Akbar, Kate Zambreno, Jack Stratton of trailblazing indie band Vulfpeck, and punk legend Kathleen Hanna; as well as two new poems by Eduardo C. Corral and Ruben Quesada that have been illustrated by artists Gabrielle Bell and Hartley Lin.

Find all this plus: Giri Nathan on the paranoia in M. Night Shyamalan’s weirdest film; Nick Hornby recommending, with some regret, reading material for Bruce Springsteen fans; and Carrie Brownstein returning to advise on the subject of “healthy” eating. And, as always, even more awaits within these ink-perfumed pages, including small-press book reviews, games, and a grand tour of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities.

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: All subscriptions to The Believer purchased before December 11, 2024, will begin with issue 147. All subscriptions automatically renew after four issues at a cost of $55. 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 Believer Autorenew.” Refunds will be accepted only up until the first issue of your renewal is shipped. Any subscription purchased with the “gift” option marked at checkout will not be enrolled in autorenew.

Canadian shipping costs for a four-issue subscription: $32
International shipping costs for a four-issue subscription $48