Raised in the great state of Kansas, Farooq Ahmed is a graduate of the Columbia University Creative Writing Program and of Brown University, where he studied biochemistry. He is a Contributing Editor for Photonics magazine, and his writing has appeared in the Financial Times, Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. His work has been lauded by the South Asian Journalists Association, and he lives in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter (@farooqtheahmed).
Kristina Marie Darling: Your novel, Kansastan, will be launched by 7.13 Books this autumn. What are three things you’d like readers to know before they delve into the work itself?
Farooq Ahmed: This turned out to be a much harder question for me to answer than I initially had thought! There are aspects of this book that I think could only be understood if one had the sort of Indian Shia Muslim Kansan American upbringing that I had. So with that in mind, here’s my attempt at a top three: First, it would probably help to have an awareness of the situation between the states of Kansas and Missouri in the lead up to the American Civil War – with each side raiding the other, committing atrocities, accusing the other side of terrorism and generally mirroring the types of border wars that continue in many parts of the world today. Thankfully, I grew up on the Kansas-side, which was anti-slavery and has a progressive streak that endures. (It’s the only state that has elected three female Democratic governors.) But, I’ve always been interested in how the American Civil War was and is framed by Missouri and southern states – for example as the War of Northern Aggression. It’s the defining conflict of the U.S., and in the past few years I think it’s even more obvious that many in this country still strongly believe that the South will rise again and with it the subjugation of non-white peoples.
Second, in many ways Kansastan is a book born of my experiences in post-September 11th America. I’m of the generation that’s old enough to remember when being Muslim in this country was to be thanked for what the Afghanistan Mujaheddin did to the Russians. (Which is absurd, but it happened!) So things have definitely changed with the Mujaheddin now our boogeymen and Putin dictating our elections with the complicity of one of our major political parties. But on September 11, 2001, I had just started graduate school in fiction and was living in lower Manhattan. Soon thereafter, I became acutely aware of my skin color every time I stepped onto the subway or into LaGuardia airport. (Not to mention the scrutiny by the FBI and NYPD and death threats from members of the FDNY). The narrator of Kansastan is in many ways my internalization of the hateful rhetoric that was and continues to be spread about Muslims in this country. There is a crudeness to the character that only exists because he is a reflection of what I and others have experienced.
And finally, there’s a notion in monotheism that dates at least to Abraham, in which a believer’s obligation to God supersedes what might pass for common sense morality. Like when God asks Abraham to sacrifice his firstborn son. Abraham’s belief permits him to nearly commit the unconscionable, and this commitment to God above all else is the crux of religious belief. It’s why jihadis behead, and why anti-choicers bomb Planned Parenthood clinics. But, it’s also the justification for John Brown’s anti-slavery fanaticism in pre-Civil War times, and why Muslims celebrate Eid al Adha (literally the Festival of Sacrifice). In the novel, the narrator’s commitment to his belief similarly provides him with the justification he needs to commit the unconscionable.
So there you have it! The three things readers need to know about Kansastan before tearing into it: American Civil War pre-history; post-September 11th anti-Muslim sentiment; and religious-inspired fanaticism. Simple!
KMD: 7.13 book is an innovative and groundbreaking publishing project. Tell us more about what drew you to this particular press.
FA: As you know, the great thing about small presses is that the editors are (mostly) only beholden to their own hopes and desires for what writing they want to see in the world. Such is the case with 7.13 and its founding editor Leland Cheuk. He jumped on my manuscript at a time when it was still pretty raw and I was still pretty early in the submission process. He encouraged me to put my work out there, and in time I also got to see him build the press, which helped convince me to publish with 7.13. It does surprise me that more presses aren’t doing what he’s doing, and that 7.13’s even considered groundbreaking. We’re lucky that it exists!
KMD: Kansastan is stunning in its use of lush lyricism, metaphor, image, and other stylistic devices usually associated with poetry. I’m intrigued by the way that experimentation with syntax helps sustain, dramatize, and create tension with plot elements. What can fiction writers learn from poets about the nuances of style? Similarly, what poetic works have been most influential for your development as a novelist?
FA: The use of poetic devices in Kansastan has its origins in scripture. Partially because I had a religious upbringing, I’ve always been drawn to those works and their power to captivate, inspire, ignite – whether that’s the Quran or other (admittedly mostly monotheistic) texts. For a long time, I had a habit of listening to Christian talk radio on long, cross-country drives (and learning the particulars of how I was going to hell) or of accepting flyers and pamphlets from street preachers (and learning how I could be saved by joining them). With the exception of loyalties to certain Kansas City-area sports teams, I’m hardly a devout anything, but I love seeing how language is deployed to craft these motivational texts, and my stylistic choices are primarily a reflection of those influences. The Quran in particular uses a lot of imagery from the natural world to underscore its message. (The funny and sad thing is that I don’t read a lot of poetry except what’s recommended to me by friends – although I’m always moved by what I’ve read, and I’m often drawn to works of fiction written by poets.)
KMD: Tell me about your connection to the great state of Kansas. What inspired you to transform it within the realm of lyrical fiction?
FA: I grew up in Kansas and have lived on both coasts, and Kansas is one of those strange places that when you live there, you don’t necessarily realize this fiction that others outside the state have already concocted about you and your upbringing. There is, of course, the Wizard of Oz thing, but there’s also this notion that Kansas exists in some sort of realm that’s been isolated by time and space – which comes even from other Midwesterners! (Ok, KCI airport is most definitely a relic from another era, but they’re working on that!)
So in a way, in my experience in the American imagination being from Kansas has provoked as much wonder about my situation (“Did you ride a tractor to school?”) as the fact that my parents emigrated to Kansas from several continents away. And once you realize that you’re from some doubly othered place – Kansas, India – well, that opens up all sorts of creative possibilities. Kansas exists as a type of American fiction, so why not further fictionalize it?
KMD: Looking ahead to your book launch this autumn, what readings, workshops, and events can we look forward to?
FA: Because there are many different influences on this book, I’m planning on reading from a variety of sections and contextualizing the work by explaining the interconnections. Also, there’ll be giveaways! Maybe t-shirts, maybe books, maybe prints. I’m working with a Kansas-based artist to develop some limited edition Kansastan memorabilia, and if there’s one thing that has inspired me in this process it’s that the offers of assistance have come from so many sources and people!