Bryan Washington, novelist

F***ing Shakespeare

In today’s episode we have the 100% on-fire novelist, Bryan Washington, penning effing beautiful and raw stories straight out of the streets of Houston for his story collection Lot. He shares his ridiculously envy-enducing publishing journey for you, adding another to the longitudinal study that proves the traditional path to publication is a mythical creature in line with the hippogriff, the Lochness, and the chupacabra. Other topics of discussion include: chupacabras, the Katy suburb of Houston, and it’s food scene (yes! There IS one) and the importance of finding an amazing agent and editor who really get your work, and — perhaps most importantly — why if you want to be a writer you shouldn’t be an asshole, and if you are a writer you should also not be an asshole.

Buy/read all the things from Bryan Washington:

• His short story collection, Lot, is available here.

• Bryan’s most recent NYer story, “Visitor” and this gem of an interview (also from the NYer) on “stories that don’t make you feel worse”

• His new novel, Memorial, (forthcoming fall 2020) draws on his work in No.6 Fiction Issue, SPOOK magazine.

• Finding holiness in noodles from his Catapult series on Houston

• Ben Rybeck (former Houstonian now with The Center for Fiction) interviewed Bryan here for Lithub

Honorable Mentions:

Some of Bryan’s influences w/r/t place-as-character

• American Son by Bryan Ascalon Roley

• Real World by Natsuo Kirino

• A Good Fall by Ha Jin

• Vida by Patricia Engel

• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Also loves:

• Short story collection, Fly Already by Etgar Keret (Riverhead Books)

Visit Bryan’s website for more about him and/or his Twitter for updates on his short stories, interests, and the food he’s digging.

Photo Credit: David Gracia

US Cover, Riverhead Books

UK cover, Atlantic Books