We're psyched to welcome Kamil Ahsan and Tabitha Blankenbiller to the Barrel-fam as our new Book Reviews Editors! Kamil and Tabitha will each run their own operation, seeking out authors and books they want to champion. Let's get to know them a little better!
KAMIL AHSAN
Okay, first: tell us about all the things you do that aren’t Barrelhouse-adjacent
Apart from being a writer and journalist myself, I'm doing a dual-degree program with a doctorate in Developmental Biology (hey, Dev Bio writer-nerds: I love you), and a Master's in History. That keeps me on my toes quite enough (luckily I'm almost done; knock on wood). Still, I somehow manage to be an incorrigible cinephile who goes to the cinema at least twice a week, a design-voyeur (here, a neologism that means: interior design porn), possessor of an ungodly number of throw pillows, unconditional lover of Marie NDiaye, Mathias Énard, Elena Ferrante, Lauren Groff, Alice Munro (and obviously, many others) as well as all non-fiction that is best described as "Verso Books,", a major Kirsten Dunst stan, and an unbridled "biryani-fiend" (somebody else's words, not entirely in jest).
What made you want to work with us?
I'd like to channel my inner Jonathan Van Ness for this question and say that it is because you are "giving me Bob Ross realism" or because "you’re strong, you’re a Kelly Clarkson song, you got this," both of which are verbatim Van Ness quotes.
That said, out-of-context quotes are a tad unbecoming. Thus, I shall say: "You're giving me David Lynch vibes!", "You're giving me that debut film by the Mulleavy sisters, I'm here for it!", or "Mavis Gallant really got to you, sweetheart, in a good way!" Or perhaps: "Your finger's on the pulse!"
What kind of books are you looking to review? What can we expect from reviews curated/edited by you?
The best kind of book review is honest, the way most people are with 50 Shades of Gray. You have an opinion you loudly declare and are not embarrassed by, you cut through the opacity that is the fundament of reliably-safe literary criticism, but you also have an appreciation for nuance punctuated by or embedded within declarative sentences.
I'd hope there are fewer things you can reliably expect from reviews curated/edited by me than things you can expect will never show up. For instance, be it non-fiction or fiction, I never tend to reviews that clobber the reader with academic jargon and condescend to the reader with implicit assumptions that they know nothing about intertexuality, the English language, or literary tradition and novelty. In other words: I like reviews that edify instead of setting out merely for a 'hot take', reviews that are explicitly anti-elitist with a stubborn and insistent charm, and reviews that do not come baked with the assumptions that just because certain demographics dominate the literary sphere—historically speaking—that the literary world is actually devoid of minority writers and perspectives.
Most of all, I'd hope for reviews that make the reader want to read (even if it's not the book actually being reviewed), and criticism that is treated as an art form with ambiguity and inherent worth instead of the use of a bully pulpit. For my soft spots, see: Montaigne, Edwidge Danticat, Hilton Als, James Baldwin, and Roger Ebert.
Who are some of your favorite contemporary writers?
All of the writers mentioned above, but since I get more space for it, I'll add more because for the sake of posterity!
For non-fiction, essays, commentary, history, and investigative journalism: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jill Lepore, Sarah Stillman, Arundhati Roy, Rachel Aviv, George Monbiot, Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor, Roxane Gay, Masha Gessen, and Glenn Greenwald are part of my staple diet of words that consistently move me.
For fiction, I rely heavily on Jesmyn Ward, Toni Morrison, China Mieville, Alexander Chee, Joy Williams, Louise Erdrich, Ha Jin, Michael Ondaatje, Viet Thanh Nguyen to surprise, experiment and show me something about the world I didn't see before. I will emphasize strongly, too, that I rely on a giant constellation of young, emerging writers who keep raising the standard invisibly, without massive institutional backing.
If you could change one thing about the current lit world, what would it be?
The literary world is different in some key ways to the other worlds I inhabit in academia and journalism. There are many layers of supportive, kind, hyper-talented folks who make it their very raison d'être to bring in young blood (for instance: Roxane Gay). The rise in social media has made reciprocal exchange and support easier or perhaps just more frequent. While there is there much work to be done, there have been fewer times strictly in terms of building a network better—historically speaking—to be an under-represented writer than at present. Unfortunately, there are more ways in which the lit world is too similar to academia and journalism. It can often be profoundly insular. The often strict hierarchies are almost implicit, making it harder for newcomers to read and understand the landscape. Ableist, sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, and gender-binarist tendencies run deep and interact with the aforementioned hierarchies in ways that are far too predictable. Finally, the literary world often has just as little historical perspective on its own cultural norms and assumptions as academia and journalism. That historical perspective, really, is the domain of literary criticism.
All of that is just another way of saying that it would be impossible to alter just one thing about the lit world's status quo that would usher in lasting change.
We’re legally obligated to ask you this: what’s your favorite Patrick Swayze movie?
Funny that you ask. I've always been mystified by why Dirty Dancing was considered such a 'hip' film to watch as a teenager growing up in Lahore, Pakistan, but not Ghost, which I watched later, at university. I remember thinking the Swayze adulation must be generational—my mother loves Swayze and I remain confounded by why. So—since I'm not particularly predisposed to either of those two biggies, I shall Google his filmography: I see that he was in Donnie Darko (really? I don't recall him one bit). I'll go with Donnie Darko. It's a wonderful film.
TABITHA BLANKENBILLER
Okay, first: tell us about all the things you do that aren’t Barrelhouse-adjacent
I have a day job, which is working in a corporate marketing department. That is all you need to know about that. On nights, weekends, and some lunch hours I write essays on pop culture-y things like meeting Grumpy Cat, Disneyland dress-up culture, Great British Baking Show contestants, The Leftovers and its best-everness, and which American Girl doll had the best cookbook. My first essay collection, EATS OF EDEN, was released in March. When I’m not writing or wasting all my life on Twitter, I’m on Instagram. Or barring that, vintage thrift shopping, canning my own pie fillings, making dioramas, and defending the Seattle Sounders.
What made you want to work with us?
Way back in about 2011, I was still in my MFA and knew nothing about lit journals. I spent many nights on Duotrope, lurking around submission guidelines for hundreds of UofSomewhere Reviews and Regional Quarterlies. Even though I was at that early scattershot point in my writing, where I would submit anything to anyone hoping for any chance at an acceptance, I didn’t connect with the philosophies and work in many of these publications. They were so humorless, so formal, so not what I was writing (and knew deep down I’d never be). When I stumbled across the bright Barrelhouse magazine covers with their not-terrible typeface and “pop flotsam, literary jetsam” tagline, I knew exactly where I wanted to be. This was the writing that made me excited to be doing this difficult, heartbreaking, low-paying art. I vowed that someday that I’d be in that journal, and after years and years of not going away, here I am.
What kind of books are you looking to review? What can we expect from reviews curated/edited by you?
As a small press writer, I know first-hand how challenging it can be to get reviews and momentum for a book that doesn’t have big-house muscle behind it. Most writers can’t afford the thousands of dollars it takes to hire a publicist, and without that expensive advocacy, it’s tough to get any coverage. I want to represent books that may otherwise go unnoticed by other publications, and create a platform within Barrelhouse for these gems that get lost in the noisy book marketing churn. Small press books, funky hybrid forms, innovative work that isn’t going to be in your airport magazine’s Top Ten Beach Reads to Be Checked Out Checking Out.
Who are some of your favorite contemporary writers?
Samantha Irby is one of my favorite people in every way, and her essays are all exactly what I wish I could do. I also love that her first collection started from a small press and then she blew the fuck up and now it’s re-released and everywhere. Same feelings for Lindy West and Cheryl Strayed. I’ll also read any and everything by Chloe Caldwell, Aaron Gilbreath, Laura Bogart, Nicole Soojung, Arielle Bernstein, and Chelsea Hodson. I have a ginormous soft spot for essays.
If you could change one thing about the current lit world, what would it be?
All the publishing realities we don’t know and don’t talk about, like how difficult and how expensive it is to actually publish and market a book. What distribution involves. How promotion schedules work (usually against you). As writers, we usually share the news that looks the shiniest on social media, and keep the disappointments and frustrations to ourselves. Typically writers are warned that publishing a book is “hard,” but there’s not enough open conversation about “why” it’s hard, what questions you should ask before committing to a project, and how to make the most out of whatever situation you happen to be in. I think we could drop the insanity quotient amongst our literary community by at least 41% if we talked about this in broad daylight.
We’re legally obligated to ask you this: what’s your favorite Patrick Swayze movie?
Donnie Darko? He was in that, right?