Episode 7: “The Lighthouse” with Ahsan Butt

In this episode we spoke with writer Ahsan Butt. We discuss his hometown of Brampton, Ontario then versus now, living in the US as a Muslim post 9/11, watching horror movies to process grief, the feeling of being watched, and how being an outsider can be a superpower – especially as an artist. Ahsan is currently working on a collection of short stories (some of which we link to in our show notes below) and we also link to his website, where you can sign up for his private classes and editing services.

Guest Bio:

⁠Ahsan Butt⁠ was born in Toronto, is of Pakistani descent, and currently lives in Evanston, IL. His short-fiction and essays have appeared in Pleiades, West Branch, Split Lip Magazine, Barrelhouse, The Massachusetts Review, The Normal School, SmokeLong Quarterly, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. He is currently a Senior Editor at South Asian Avant Garde: A Dissident Literary Anthology (SAAG) and writes a ⁠newsletter⁠ on horror writing.

Show Notes:

Find Ahsan online here:

• ⁠Ahsan is Unsettled⁠ on Substack

• ⁠Mentorship, Editing and Classes⁠ by Ahsan

Links to some of Ahsan’s work:

• “⁠Red Eye⁠” – The James Franco Review

• “⁠Tasneem⁠” – Eclectica

• “⁠Window⁠” – Split Lip Magazine

• “Hotel” is published in Pleiades [43.2]

• “⁠The Mind is a Theater of War: An Interview with Palestinian-American Playwright, Sadieh Rifai⁠” – South Asian Avant-Garde

Links to some media we mention:

• ⁠Caché⁠ directed by Michael Haneke

• ⁠A Nightmare on Elm Street⁠ directed by Wes Craven

• ⁠Malcom X⁠ directed by Spike Lee

• ⁠Twin Peaks⁠ created by Mark Frost and David Lynch

• ⁠Atlantics⁠ directed by Mati Diop

• ⁠Poltergeist⁠ directed by Tobe Hooper

• ⁠Annihilation⁠ written by Jeff Vandermeer

Credits:

• Edited by⁠ ⁠Amanda Dee⁠⁠ and mastered by⁠ ⁠Rebecca Seidel⁠⁠.

• Theme music by The Necklace, a project by Taylor Shields and Morgan Võ.

Sound Credits:

• Launching a toy boat into water by adviseme333 — ⁠https://freesound.org/s/679396/⁠ — License: Creative Commons 0

• Paddles rowing on a calm water stream by brunoboselli — ⁠https://freesound.org/s/249707/⁠ — License: Creative Commons 0

• 20060307.paddling.wav by dobroide — ⁠https://freesound.org/s/16770/⁠ — License: Attribution 4.

• Foghorns, Southampton Water, 3am by richwise — ⁠https://freesound.org/s/760454/⁠ — License: Creative Commons 0

• Light Switch by TheWoodlandNomad — ⁠https://freesound.org/s/363084/⁠ — License: Creative Commons 0