I Read It for the Articles
(No seriously. We publish words, too.)
Welcome to The Playboy Reader, the latest development in Playboy’s 73-year history as a literary institution. Yes, Playboy has always featured photos of minimally-clothed women—that’s not changing!—but we’ve been known for our writing, too. Ray Bradbury, Vladimir Nabokov, Joyce Carol Oates, Hunter S. Thompson, Gabriel García Márquez, Margaret Atwood and countless others have had their work published in our pages, not to mention the legendary interviews with the celebrities, politicians, artists and thinkers that have defined the last century. When people say “I read it for the articles,” they’re not lying.
We want to continue that legacy here, with a new generation of readers and writers alike. On Substack, we’ll be showcasing a selection of our favorites from the Playboy archives, previously only accessible in print or behind a paywall—the short stories that gave America’s favorite novelists their start, the longform Q&As that redefined how we perceived their subjects and the longform journalism that shaped our culture’s relationship with freedom of speech, sexuality, drugs, philosophy and more. But we’ll also be pushing the conversation forward, too, with new fiction and nonfiction alike from some of our favorite established and up-and-coming writers today. We’re celebrating our launch ahead of Valentine’s Day with a bang, but expect to hear from us twice weekly in the future. What better time to share the love of Playboy's literary past and future?
This week:
Entering the Gooniverse by Allie Rowbottom
The Playboy Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono by David Sheff
Marriage Is Good, Actually by Josh Gondelman
My Sudsy Valentine pictorial starring Anna Nicole Smith
So excited for this!
Ahhh can’t wait for this