“There is an energy of risk that can transfer from writer to reader and reader to writer, and it’s so potent. I want my readers to feel that energetic transfer of risk and leap.” —Laura van den Berg, interviewed by @rokwon.bsky.social www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

"After decades of appearing as the lesser half of the sisters... [Vanessa] Bell is enjoying a moment of attention as a major modernist figure in her own right." —from “Vanessa Bell Is Not at Home” by @heatherchristle.bsky.social www.thebeliever.net/vanessa-bell...

“With the kidnapped books in hand, my father would make runs to the parking lot to place them in the car trunk, before returning to search for new victims.” Mona Kareem reflects on her father’s obsessive pursuit of a perfect personal library in Kuwait. www.thebeliever.net/the-labyrinth/

“Pennhurst is obliged to give the crowd what they paid for: an experience that captures our collective cultural fear of these abusive institutions.” —from “The Haunting of Pennhurst,” an essay by Oliver Egger www.thebeliever.net/the-haunting...

“The best poems—whether they’re about grief or love or other things—really enact, they don’t describe.” —Kevin Young, interviewed by @nickhilden.bsky.social www.thebeliever.net/microintervi...

Bay Area locals, mark your calendars: Daniel Handler and Andrew Sean Greer are coming to the Sydney Goldstein Theater on October 8 for an evening of conversation not to be missed. Visit the @cityartssf.bsky.social website for more details: www.cityarts.net/event/daniel...

"Who were these people who had come to this forgotten former resort town at the edge—and the end—of the world?" Read "The Last Resort" by Ash Sanders, recipient of the @longreads.com Audience Award as the most-read editors' pick: www.thebeliever.net/the-last-res...

"It’s been said that comedians are fundamentally inconsolable people who need constant reassurance." —Richard Ayoade, interviewed by Wallace Shawn www.thebeliever.net/the-process-...

"The thing that made the [CBGB] scene was that it wasn’t a format. There was no format. It wasn’t like there was a lot of schooling or trained musicianship. It was about enterprise and feeling, identity." — @blondieband.bsky.social, interviewed by Emma Ingrisani www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

It's the last day of our dual subscription deal with @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social. Subscribe before midnight to receive 25% off on a year of two premier Californian literary journals! store.mcsweeneys.net/products/bel...

"The Last Resort" by Ash Sanders has received the @longreads.com Audience Award, as the most-read Editors' Pick! Read the full piece on our website: www.thebeliever.net/the-last-res...

“I feel like music offers a softening—that was the word that came to mind, or maybe opening. It brings us back into our bodies.” —Jamila Woods, interviewed by Sam Sax www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

Audience Award 🏆 This week's most-read editor's pick is "The Last Resort" by Ash Sanders (@thebeliever.net) www.thebeliever.net/the-last-res...

“I want to be chill, you know what I mean? It seems nice, but I have this unfortunate personality: I feel the most alive and connected to the world when I’m in the maw of incredible intensity.” —Laura van den Berg, interviewed by @rokwon.bsky.social www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

Don’t miss two of our favorite writers, @DanielHandler and Andrew Sean Greer, in conversation at Sydney Goldstein Theater on October 8. Learn more about the event, presented by @cityartssf: www.cityarts.net/event/daniel...

"When the films don’t work, it isn’t from an idiosyncratic muse failing to bear fruit, but rather a lack of commitment to what on the surface seems interesting and saleable." —Chris Molnar on an Olivier Assayas retrospective at Metrograph www.thebeliever.net/where-is-the...

“I write lies that sometimes have little basis in the world—very well-written, desperate lies that I hope will be transformed into truth in the minds of the audience.” —screenwriter Chung Seo-kyung, interviewed by Natalie So www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

“Poems are a poor payment for the blood and tears. But somewhere, somehow, in the end, they might be comforting.” —Kevin Young, interviewed by @nickhilden.bsky.social www.thebeliever.net/microintervi...

Nathaniel Rich reports from Louisiana’s Forest Denka, the "pristine" woodland bordering a factory responsible for the highest cancer rate in Cancer Alley. www.thebeliever.net/sacrifice-zo...

“The museum claims to document the same dark history of institutionalization that the attraction’s nightly performances caricature as entertainment.” —from “The Haunting of Pennhurst,” an essay by Oliver Egger www.thebeliever.net/the-haunting...

"To be an artist, you have to be able to touch areas that maybe you don’t want to touch, or that you are afraid to touch." — @blondieband.bsky.social, interviewed by Emma Ingrisani www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

“It isn’t necessarily harder than a New York Times–style clue, but it is multidimensional where the other type usually isn’t. Cryptics demand the closest of readings.” —Vijay Khurana on the cryptic crossword www.thebeliever.net/149431-2/

Only a week left to take advantage of our tantalizing dual subscription deal with @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social. Get yours before September 29! store.mcsweeneys.net/products/bel...

“If you hang a fireplace on a white wall, I fretted, don’t the flames go cold? I booked tickets so I could find out.” —from “Vanessa Bell Is Not at Home,” an essay by @heatherchristle.bsky.social in Issue 151, now online www.thebeliever.net/vanessa-bell...

“Is the urge to be funny some kind of unwillingness to live in tension? You dissipate the tension by saying something funny or presenting a funny image. And something is shared with the audience then.” —Richard Ayoade, interviewed by Wallace Shawn www.thebeliever.net/the-process-...

"So often, the Salton Sea is referred to only as a disaster. But perhaps there was some value to the devastation. Maybe living next to a dying sea made it harder to live in denial." Ash Sanders for @thebeliever.net: www.thebeliever.net/the-last-res...

“I reject scarcity and the feeling that the other writers around you are your competition, and that there’s only so much pie.” —Laura van den Berg, interviewed by @rokwon.bsky.social www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

Check out the latest from @thebeliever.net featuring an essay by MR's #translation editor Mona Kareem: www.thebeliever.net/the-labyrinth/

“Just as there is a speed limit for light and sound, there also must be a speed limit for writing that cannot be­ surpassed—but how fast is fast enough?” —Chung Seo-kyung, interviewed by Natalie So www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

Researching and writing this was a joy. I began in an attitude of skepticism and ended elsewhere.

Enter the golden state of mind with two of California's most percipient independent literary journals: subscribe now and get a year of The Believer and @LAReviewofBooks—that's eight issues and full digital access—for just $90. store.mcsweeneys.net/products/bel...

“It feels like there’s this river running underneath my whole life. It’s always there; I just have to step into it.” -- Shelia Heti @thebeliever.net

"If Bombay Beach is an unlikely place to find a gigantic inland sea, it’s an even unlikelier place to find an avant-garde art festival." Ash Sanders reports on an absurdist biennale on the parched shores of the Salton Sea. Read the full piece on our site: www.thebeliever.net/the-last-res...

"I’m excited to just play and get into a space of: There’s no purpose to this. I’m just doing this to see what comes out." —Jamila Woods, interviewed by Sam Sax www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

With a joint subscription to LARB and The Believer, get the best of independent publishing: prose, poetry, interviews, art, comics, and translations from emerging and established writers alike. For more information: https://account.lareviewofbooks.org/forms/believer

"You will not find Forest Denka on any map—or any other place... But Forest Denka is real: 420 acres of pristine wilderness in Reserve, Louisiana, forty minutes upriver from New Orleans." Nathaniel Rich on a strip of forest bordering a neoprene production plant. www.thebeliever.net/sacrifice-zo...

"The attraction is hard to justify. But it is perhaps even harder to reject." Read Oliver Egger's "The Haunting of Pennhurst," an essay on a state institution turned museum of disability by day, and haunted Halloween attraction by night—now online. www.thebeliever.net/the-haunting...

"Technique can be like an insurance policy. But sometimes flying by the seat of your pants, without insurance or without a parachute, is what really makes you good." — @blondieband.bsky.social, interviewed by Emma Ingrisani www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

Our fall issue is out today! Here’s what you’ll find inside. www.thebeliever.net/product/fall...

“I like all kinds of people. I grew up in Bombay, a city where if you don’t like people you’re going to be extremely unhappy.” —Suketu Mehta, interviewed by Karan Mahajan www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

“I have a feeling every good writer, regardless of background, doubts his own voice just a little, and his own right to have that voice heard. It’s the simple effrontery of the thing. Who died and made me Storyteller?” —David Simon, interviewed by Nick Hornby www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

“Fear is isolating for those that fear. And I have come to believe that fear is a cruelty to those who are feared.” —from “No-Man’s-Land,” an essay by Eula Biss www.thebeliever.net/no-mans-land/

"What separates an angel from a ghost, besides the intentions that history or stories or hope or fear might affix to them?" —Hanif Abdurraqib's Resurrector column on the film Angel's in the Outfield www.thebeliever.net/resurrector-...

"In all women there is something in revolt that is not expressed." —Agnès Varda, interviewed by Sheila Heti www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...

"It’s one of the best movies about the child’s gaze, a way of seeing that complicates and clarifies the world in equal measure." —Chris Molnar on the film Where is the Friend's House? www.thebeliever.net/where-is-the...

The finest of Californian literary journalism, from north to south, is now yours with a yearlong subscription to The Believer and @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social for just $90. Get a dual subscription today. store.mcsweeneys.net/products/bel...

"People who are doing shows or big movies—not only are you writing this world that you’re living in, but you’re also simultaneously running a circus." —Mike White, interviewed by Toph Eggers www.thebeliever.net/no-one-is-pu...

“We suffer from a national confusion between true threats and imagined threats.” —from “No-Man’s-Land,” an essay by Eula Biss www.thebeliever.net/no-mans-land/

We’ve teamed up with @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social to celebrate the very best in West Coast literary journalism. Now through 9/29 get four issues of The Believer, four issues of LARB Quarterly, and unlimited digital access to both, for just $90. store.mcsweeneys.net/products/bel...

“The beautiful thing about animals is that they deal with what’s in front of them. One thing I can tell you is that I’ve never met a cat that’s made an excuse.” —Jackson Galaxy, interviewed by Alyse Burnside www.thebeliever.net/an-interview...