• by Sara Guaglione , March 31, 2017

Quirky San Francisco-based culture and literary magazine The Believer has been acquired by the Black Mountain Institute at The University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Founded in 2003 by authors Vendela Vida, Ed Park and Heidi Julavits, The Believer is a five-time finalist for the National Magazine Award. It was previously published by McSweeney's, the independent publishing company run by Vida's husband, author Dave Eggers. Vida and Julavits will remain as consultants to the magazine.

Vida told the Associated Press that the Black Mountain Institute, a literary center established in 2006 that sponsors a wide range of programs, publications and fellowships, has “resources that can sustain The Believer and help it thrive.”

"In any era, it's a challenge to make a paper magazine work, especially a literary and arts magazine like The Believer that, by design, takes few ads,” Vida added. “In this digital moment, producing a paper-and-glue magazine is especially hard.”

The magazine features long-form interviews, essays and reviews, as well as illustrations. It claims about 5,600 subscribers. Vida told the AP that The Believer has been "break even at best."

Post sale, The Believer will be edited by Joshua Wolf Shenk, the Black Mountain Institute’s executive director. Kellen Braddock, BMI’s deputy director, will serve as publisher. The first edition helmed by Shenk is scheduled for an August 1 release.

The publication will continue to be published bimonthly. Its editorial operations will move to Las Vegas.