The Believer (magazine) - Overview

Overview

First published in April 2003, the literary magazine was created by Dave Eggers of McSweeney's Publishing in San Francisco, and friends who planned to "focus on writers and books we like," with a nod to "the concept of the inherent Good." Its editors are the novelists Vendela Vida and Heidi Julavits, and editor Ed Park, who also edits for The Village Voice. Sheila Heti and Ross Simonini are the magazine's interviews editors. The Believer is published in 9 issues per year, including annual Art, Music, and Film issues that sometimes feature a CD or DVD insert. In 2005, it was printing about 15,000 copies of its regular issues. It was described by Ploughshares editor Don Lee as "a utopian literary magazine. This is the sort of thing everyone dreams of – having this quality of staff on board."

The Believer is a magazine, as its editor Heidi Julavits writes, that urges readers and writers to "reach beyond their usual notions of what is accessible or possible." The magazine publishes essays that the critic Peter Carlson describes as "highbrow but delightfully bizarre," book reviews that may assess writers of other eras, and interviews with writers, artists, musicians and directors, often conducted by colleagues in their fields. The critic A.O. Scott described the magazine as part of "a generational struggle against laziness and cynicism, to raise once again the banners of creative enthusiasm and intellectual engagement." It has a "cosmopolitan frame of reference and an eclectic internationalism," mixing pop genres with literary theory.

The magazine is being sold primarily in independent bookstores. New York bookseller Andrea Hiott says, "People have been calling asking for the Believer, and it's selling well. Everyone loved McSweeney's in New York City." Myleen Hollero of Green Apple Books in San Francisco described the magazine as "...a new, fresh medium people are relating to more than anything lately. It's clever, and they get great people to write for them. People recognize that, especially in this city. You say McSweeney's, and people jump on it."