Friends of The Sun

The generosity of readers like you keeps our ad-free, nonprofit magazine in circulation, funding everything from production to distribution. Here are just a few ways donations made a difference last year.

You allow The Sun to grow.

Beginning February 28, The Sun will handle customer-service and order fulfillment from our editorial office in North Carolina. In preparation, we’ve welcomed two new staff members, Chrystal Pitt and Shani Armstrong, to manage our reader services department. Both women have enjoyed “meeting” Sun subscribers over the phone and e-mail — along with a few walk-ins — many of whom shared interesting stories or kind words about the magazine.

You bring new voices and fresh perspectives to the magazine.

In 2021, we welcomed nearly a hundred new writers and photographers to our pages, including photographers Mark Herboth and Matthew Moore, whose cover images were their first published photographs; author Judy Chow, who was featured in Readers Write before her essay “The Interpreter” was published in September; and Chelsea Baumgarten, whose first piece of published fiction was “Lawrence the Enormous” [October].

You make The Sun available to those in need.

Last year, we mailed over a thousand free subscriptions to teachers, students, incarcerated readers, and others. We have continued to work with organizations, such as the Indiana Prison Writers Workshop and the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative, to bring The Sun to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated readers and have partnered with MagLiteracy.org, an organization that has distributed approximately 24,000 copies of the magazine to communities via food pantries, shelters, job-training programs, and more.

We’re grateful for your support as a Friend of The Sun. Thank you.