The Believer’s mission is to introduce readers to the best and most interesting work in the world of art, culture, and thought—whether that means literature, painting, wrestling, philosophy, or cooking—in an attractive vehicle that’s free from the bugbears of condescension, mustiness, and jargony obfuscation. Its content (including essays, interviews, comics, poetry, and reviews) offers fresh perspectives from editors Heidi Julavits, Vendela Vida, and Karolina Waclawiak. Each issue includes the popular columns “Stuff I’ve Been Reading,” by Nick Hornby and “What the Swedes Read” (a look at Nobel Prize-winners), by Daniel Handler

The Summer Issue features new work by Nell Zink, Álvaro Enrigue, and Gary Greenberg; interviews with Robert Coover, Amber Tamblyn, and the New York Public Library’s Paul Holdengräber; and new poetry by Rae Armantrout. Also in these pages, and among many other delights, you’ll find a special section on the theme of wildlife, essays on the man after whom Jim Jones patterned himself and what it’s like to be named after a sibling who died before you were born, examinations of the work of the artists Ray Johnson and Jimmy Robert, and the editors’ short lists for the eleventh annual Believer Book Award and the fifth annual Believer Poetry Award.

Table of Contents:

Pockets of Resistance—Catherine Foulkrod

How to Send Things to Germany—Nell Zink

The Divine Inspiration of Jim Jones—Adam Morris

“Abstract Expressionism”: a new poem—Andrew Nurkin

The Confidence Man—Gary Greenberg

“Shooting Possums from the Back Porch of Roger’s Bar”: a new poem—Michael McGriff

What’s in a Necronym?—Jeannie Vanasco

A Common Language—Kristina Shevory

Descending Night—Elisabeth Donnelly

(Untitled)—Mary Mann

“Comics”— edited by Alvin Buenaventura

El Vocho: A Familiar Subject—Álvaro Enrigue

What the Swedes Read—Daniel Handler

The Eleventh Annual Believer Book Award: Short List

Robert Coover interviewed by Aaron Shulman

“Canary”: a new poem—Rae Armantrout

Schema: Top 100 US Drug Brand Names—Shoshana Akabas

The Fifth Annual Believer Poetry Award: Short List

Paul Holdengräber interviewed by Lane Koivu

Jimmy Robert interviewed by Jude Stewart

Symposium: A discussion on (mostly) books as they relate to the theme of wildlife.

Tim Sheedy on the orangutan, Donna Kozloskie on the rising floodwaters, Megan Pugh on a poetic doomsday prophecy, Monica Westin on vegetal being, and Bijan Stephen on spillover.

Elizabeth LeCompte interviewed by Hillar Liitoja

Amber Tamblyn interviewed by Rachel Matlow

Charles Yu interviewed by Lev Grossman