Our Belief in Our Fearlessness Is Why It Works

Dear friends,

Over twenty-six beautiful years, McSweeney’s has been reaching for the unexpected and the impossible—books written by rarely heard voices and magazines created with elegant materials unlike any others. We believe that readers—and all of us—benefit from the thrill of surprise when we introduce them to an emerging writer, a seldom-voiced perspective, or an artist whose work is startling in just the right way.

The world we live in today requires independent voices. Help us continue publishing boldly.

Over the years, we’ve been recognized for our bold editorial vision in various heartening ways—from awards to media accolades. But the real evidence that validates our work is in the vibrant group of readers, donors, and supporters who stand behind us.

Your belief in our fearlessness is why it works.

In these odd days in America, we need you more than ever. Twenty percent of our nonprofit’s annual revenue comes from grants and donations—the funds that make it possible for us to publish previously unheralded voices, like Jean Marseille’s first-person account of his life in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, or to shower ludicrous levels of attention upon the ten brand-new fiction writers’ work published in McSweeney’s 75, an artist-designed portfolio of original stories, each with their own illustrated cover; or to send Believer correspondents to the Democratic National Convention for real-time reporting. (We were the only magazine to send a novelist and a poet to Chicago for that purpose.)

This is what we do: Month after month, year after year, we publish form-breaking, never-more-relevant writing and art of the highest possible quality. We’ve done so in good times and in bad. In a pandemic, in a few different recessions, and amid various formidable threats to the world order as we’ve come to understand it. And we can only continue to stand up for fearless books and writing and our vital corps of readers, with you standing alongside us. Intrepid publishing is even more essential in these alarming times. Thank you for considering a donation today.

Yours,
Amanda Uhle
Publisher & Executive Director
McSweeney’s