Bryan Washington on Writing About Houston’s Queer Spaces and Sharing Restaurant Lexicon with ‘The Bear’

Seija Rankin
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Bryan Washington has been publishing writing about Houston — at book length, at least — for more than four years to extreme success. His first short story collection, 2019’s Lot, earned him a spot on the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 list and a spot on Barack Obama’s annual list of favorite books. His follow-up debut novel Memorial made, essentially, every Best of 2020 list imaginable. So naturally the author, who lives in Houston while also spending time each year in Osaka, Japan, returned to the setting for his highly-anticipated third book. Family Meal, a moving portrait on grief and the many ways it can show up, follows former best friends Cam and TJ, who are unexpectedly reunited after the death of Cam’s boyfriend Kai. Washington follows the 20-somethings as they work together in TJ’s family bakery, dealing with (and avoiding) the fallout of their live’s fractures and Kai’s ever-present memory. Here, Washington talks to THR about returning — on the page — to the city he calls home and the myriad ways he finds inspiration.


I’ve read that you worked for a long time on this novel, especially as compared to your previous books — what was the process of getting to the right version of the story?

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I wrote an initial draft of around 10,000 words, that was circling around queer friendship and different forms of home and care it can take on. Kai was a person in the book that something happened to, but he wasn’t a character or an active presence. I decided to shift and have Kai take on a more present-tense role, in spite of having passed away much earlier in the timeline of the book, and that changed the entire nature of the book.


Why did you decide to make him his own character?


I was really hesitant to have any sort of structural challenge infringe upon the characters. I think a lot of writing about marginalized folks, there’s a way in which their trauma by way of white supremacy or their socioeconomic conditions can override their personal journeys or emotional arcs. But leaving out those challenges felt dishonest, and I didn’t know how to incorporate something like that until I added Kai.


As this is your third book and second novel, what would you say felt most different for you?


There was a certain amount of care during the writing process that this particular book necessitated given how heavy some components of it are. I had to be really thoughtful about how I was going to approach certain topics or passages, and I also wanted to be mindful of how I was feeling in the midst of it.


This is also your third book that takes place in Houston and — especially given the way the city has changed in recent years — I wonder if you have a particular aim in representing the city or if there’s something about the changes you’re trying to talk about?


That’s interesting. I don’t know that I have one, but I think that there are changes I’ve noticed about Houston since I’ve started publishing in book-length form. One, the visibility of the city especially from a media vantage point has certainly expanded. I’d say that for a long time if you wrote about New York, or Los Angeles, or Las Vegas, there were certain connotations or associations that readers would have. Now, when someone says Houston, there is a set of emotions, a set of narratives, that goes along with it whether right or not.


For Family Meal, I wanted the focal point to be Montrose, the city’s codified gayborhood, a neighborhood that’s been really important to me since my late teens. There aren’t many queer spaces across the city, so Montrose is important in that way too, but the money that has entered has pushed folks out of the neighborhood, it’s changed who feels comfortable spending time in the various businesses there. I’m trying to write about that tension, while also conveying that my characters still find solace in the place.


What does success look like or mean to you? You’ve touched basically every literary honor there is, but I wonder if there are milestones that mean more to you than others?


I’m cognizant that so much of a book’s success on paper is outside of the author’s control. It’s all about the temperature of the room or the world. I like to know that I was able to achieve what I wanted to, from a storytelling vantage point. Was I able to access the honesty I wanted to? Have I done right by the folks or communities that I’m writing about? And this sounds simple, but is it something that my friends would enjoy?


Are there things you haven’t achieved, like having an adaptation see its way past the development stage, or maybe having the book sold in certain countries, that you still hope for?


I have seen iterations and variations of both of those, and having done that, I have to say I’m still always overjoyed when the work is translated because so much of my own literary education was by way of works in translation.


The book’s title, Family Meal, evokes references to The Bear for me. Have you thought about how many people might be drawn to it because restaurant lexicon is so present in pop culture?


I’ve seen very little of The Bear, but what I have seen I’ve really enjoyed. And I wrote a few drafts of the book before I even saw an episode. But even though they aren’t related to one another, I think it’s cool that folks who work outside of food service are tapping in to this daily lexicon. This was actually the only book of mine where I arrived at the title early, and immediately I was like oh, that’s the title.


What do you cook most often?


For myself or for friends, if we don’t have dinner plans or we’re coming back quite late from somewhere and need something to eat, it’s either kimchi fried rice or breakfast tacos. I always seem to have the ingredients for each, and they’re malleable enough that as long as you have the core ingredients you’re good to go.


I have to say I really loved the piece you wrote about attending the Renaissance Tour in Houston; was delving into this pop culture coverage something you sought out?


I didn’t even know I was going to write about going to the shows until after I went to the first Houston show. I didn’t pitch a story on going, because I didn’t want it to be work. I wasn’t looking to monetize that experience. But the show was just beyond, and I thought that even if just for myself, it would be nice to have a capsule of this particular point in time.


Who or what else in culture is inspiring you right now?


A book immediately comes to mind, called Happy Stories, Mostly by Norman Erikson Pasaribu and translated by Tiffany Tsao. It’s a thoughtful collection of largely queer stories circling around questions of identity. I also listen to a lot of K-Pop and there’s a group called NewJeans that I’m quite fond of. They have a record that released a few months ago that’s still bringing me a lot of happiness. It’s essential for me to have music on in the background while I write.


This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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