The Believer magazine has new owner

The arts and culture magazine, whose youthful and idiosyncratic ethos reflect its San Francisco roots, has a new owner.

Beset by financial difficulties that have afflicted much of the publishing industry, the magazine has not published an issue since the summer of 2015.

“We raised a sum that felt right,” said essayist Joshua Wolf Shenk, the institute’s executive director, who will edit the Believer.

Based in the Mission District and staffed with a small, young crew, the magazine had been published by McSweeney’s, the independent press founded by Dave Eggers, Vida’s husband.

In its early years, the Believer quickly attracted prominent writers with its refreshing mix of the silly and the cerebral, and its positive-minded editorial mission.

Among those who have contributed to the magazine’s pages with an assortment of long-form interviews, essays and reviews are Hilton Als, Anne Carson, Daniel Handler, Nick Hornby, Zadie Smith and William T. Vollmann.

The Believer also helped launch the careers of other writers, including Eula Biss, Gideon Lewis-Kraus and Leslie Jamison.

Almost square in shape, its non-glossy pages have featured such whimsical elements as temporary tattoos.

“The goal is to make the Believer central to everything we do, including residential fellowships,” Shenk said in a statement.