Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Sampsell, a great person to know if you are at all in the business of loving the written word.
I first encountered Kevin as events coordinator at Powell’s Books in Portland, a West Coast literary mecca and probably one of my favorite bookstores of all time. Then I encountered his writing: his latest novel, Baby in the Night, is a beautiful, surrealist romp with a highly unconventional narrator.1 Finally, I learned he’s an editor, heading up small press Future Tense Books with co-editor Emma Alden. (Check out their backlist and drop them a line!)
When it comes to books, there isn’t a hat Kevin doesn’t wear. Maybe that’s what makes talking to him so great. Or it could be the fact that he loves to show and tell rare books, like experimental Ben Marcus titles from the 90s or a book-length collage about rats by Crispin Glover. Or it could be his candor — who among us can’t relate to the ups and downs of this Baby in the Night publication saga?
If you’re in Portland, drop into Powell’s and grab a copy of Baby in the Night. And while you’re there, grab one of my books, too — they’re all freshly restocked. (Thanks, Kevin!)
Follow Kevin on Instagram: kevinsampsell and futuretensebooks.
Retraction: an earlier version of this conversation identified the baby’s city as Portland, USA. The city is not Portland, USA; it’s Anygrittytown, USA. What matters most is that all these places (and the baby) share a moon-father.
