A special anniversary issue
Plus a 40% MUBI discount for Believer subscribers
The Road to 150
This spring marks 150 issues of The Believer! Over the last two decades, we’ve published essays on jazz, Las Vegas, Texan pageantry, Dave Chappelle, a computer chip crime ring, the serial killer media complex, portals to the underworld, Las Vegas (again), love, empathy, and beauty. There have also been a great deal of occasionally helpful advice columns from comedians; as well as long-form conversations with wizards, heroes, winemakers, cat whisperers, and multiple talents featured in Ryan Coogler’s new movie, Sinners. Not to mention all the poetry; schemas; comics; and otherwise unclassifiable writings. It’s been a long time—and a lot of reading—and we feel luckier than ever to be able to keep doing this. Thank you for keeping the faith.
What’s Inside?
In our forthcoming anniversary issue, which comes out June 26: Shruti Swamy reckons with the crimes of her childhood guru, Swami Rama; Paul Collins turns the pages of a massive, ill-fated newspaper from 1859; Rafia Zakaria visits the Karachi neighborhood in which she grew up, where the daily search for water has led to a climate of resentment; and David J. Morris reflects on his time with Campus Crusade for Christ, the most popular evangelical group you’ve never heard of.
Also in this issue are interviews with country singer Lyle Lovett, former Believer editor Sheila Heti, and Oxherding Tale author Charles Johnson; plus a comic by Maxime Gérin; poems by Cecily Parks, Prince Bush, and Evie Shockley; and a cultural history of Black vampires by Jordan Taliha McDonald. In addition, key sesquicentennial features include: an expanded letters section, a super-size index, and, exclusively for print subscribers, a celebratory wall poster by Kristian Hammerstad—see below!
If you aren’t already subscribed (or if you’re ready to renew) we suggest you do so now, while subscriptions are $10 off. At checkout, we’ll also send you a discount code for 40% off MUBI’s streaming service. Offer ends June 5.
Sneak Peek
Announcements
In 2017, we published a piece by Stephanie Elizondo Griest about the classical Indian dance ensemble Nrityagram. Griest spent a month with the women in the troupe, all of whom live together in a small community outside Bangalore. It was these travels to write “The Disciplined Utopia,” that seeded the idea for Griest’s latest book, Art Above Everything: One Woman’s Global Exploration of the Joys and Torments of a Creative Life, which profiles women around the world who have devoted their lives to art—no matter the cost. You can preorder it here.