Synopses & Reviews
The Believer's mission is to introduce the best and most interesting work in the world of art, culture, and thoughtwhether that means literature, painting, wrestling, philosophy, or cookingin an attractive vehicle thats free from the bugbears of condescension, mustiness, and jargony obfuscation. Its content (essays, interviews, comics, poetry, and reviews) offers fresh perspectives from editors Heidi Julavits, Vendela Vida, and Andrew Leland. Each issue includes the popular columns Stuff Ive Been Reading,” by Nick Hornby; What the Swedes Read” (a look at Nobel Prize-winners), by Daniel Handler; and Real Life Rock Top 10,” by Greil Marcus. The July/August Music Issue includes a free CD of new music curated for the magazine, the March/April Film Issue includes a free DVD of otherwise unreleased films, and the November/December Art Issue includes a free, always-changing bonus item.
The Believer is a monthly magazine where length is no object. There are book reviews that are not necessarily timely, and that are very often long. There are also interviews that are very long. We will focus on writers and books we like. We will give people and books the benefit of the doubt. The working title of this magazine was The Optimist. The Editors
Synopsis
The Believer, a five-time National Magazine Award finalist, is a bimonthly literature, arts, and culture magazine. In each issue, readers will find journalism and essays that are frequently very long, book reviews that are not necessarily timely, and interviews that are intimate, frank, and also very long. There are intricate illustrations by Tony Millionaire and a rotating cast of guest artists, poems, and regular columns by Nick Hornby and Daniel Handler.
The annual Music Issue features Karen Tongson on her namesake, Karen Carpenter, and how the particular whiteness of the Carpenters sound took off in the Philippines; Michael Snyder on a territory in northeast India in which contemporary Christian gospel is effecting near-total cultural assimilation; Phillip Pantuso on Guyanese songbird smugglers; Stephanie Elizondo Griest on dancers who place art above everything else in their lives; and Sandi Rankaduwa on the evolution of female emcees. There will also be (among other things) a special section on unreliable songwriters; a visual examination of Italo Disco s map to humanity s apotheosis via glitter and robot sex; and interviews with Enya, the LA Phil s Deborah Borda, punk bassist Mike Watt, rapper and producer Lil B, and legendary rock muse Bebe Buell."