The Believer Fall 26

Named the best magazine of 2022 by Alta.

Inside our fall issue: Katherine Cusumano tours the Pacific Northwest's indie professional wrestling circuit; Sandy Ernest Allen revisits Loren Rex Cameron's classic photography book; Jaydra Johnson experiments with the counter-intuitive philosophy of Contact Improv; and, after decades on varying doses of Klonopin, Brad Phillips describes the terrifying costs of one of America's most commonly prescribed anti-anxiety medications.
We also have conversations with Pulitzer Prize-finalist Katie Kitamura, acclaimed filmmaker Alex Ross Perry, food justice activist Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm, and indie rock hero Kurt Vile; not to mention a process talk with Croatian documentarian Igor Bezinovi¿ and a microinterview about the art of perfume with biophysicist Luca Turin.
Other delights scattering these pages include a brand new poem by Patricia Lockwood, a license-plate themed literary puzzle by Tamara Shopsin, and Deb Olin Unferth's review of an apocalyptic movie starring PJ Harvey as hipster Mary Magdalene. Plus: Peter Orner on Fat City, the Zillow listing for Bag End, Ladies Day at a Vermont oil change shop, small press book reviews, and so much more!