Q&A with Kathleen Barber

  

 

Kathleen Barber is the author, with Amayah Shaienne, of the new novel Sisterhood Above All. Barber's other books include Both Things Are True. She lives in Washington, D.C. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Sisterhood Above All, and how did you create your character Ava?

 

A: Sorority membership has been a huge part of my life: I joined a sorority during my freshman year, served on my chapter’s executive board and my university’s Panhellenic Council (the governing body of all sororities) executive board while I was in college, worked as a leadership consultant for my sorority’s international headquarters after I graduated, and joined my sorority’s young alum group when I first moved to a new city.

 

I often write obliquely about sorority life (in Follow Me, Audrey and Cat are sorority sisters, and Vanessa in Both Things Are True references living in her sorority house), but I’d always wanted to write a novel centered around sorority life.

 

Of course, if I were to write a story about what my sorority experience was really like, no one would buy it—there’s not much of a market for novels about happy young women going to class and hanging out with their friends! Instead, I thought it would be more fun to make it really dark.

 

Still, I hadn’t quite figured out exactly the story I wanted to tell … but then #RushTok started getting attention, and my agent, who was aware of my interest in writing a sorority-centered book, suggested setting the book during sorority rush.

 

Immediately, I knew she was right. Recruitment is such a stressful time, and it was easy to envision how quickly things could go off the rails if the right (or wrong!) personalities are involved.

 

For Ava, we wanted someone who didn’t just want to be in the “right” sorority … she felt as though she needed it. To that end, it wasn’t just about Ava’s personality, but about creating the backstory that would help the reader understand why Ava felt like she had to join Gamma Gamma Alpha.

 

We decided that Ava’s late mother was a Gamma, and that Ava was desperate to have that final connection to her—and that desperation made Ava willing to do anything to join.

 

Q: You wrote this book with a co-author, Amayah Shaienne. What was it like to collaborate on a novel? What was your writing process like?

 

A: Working with Amayah was a lot of fun! When my agent suggested that working with a current member of one of the Alabama sororities could bring a level of authenticity to the story, I knew she was right—but I was also nervous. Writing is very solitary, and I’m used to writing alone.

 

I worried that perhaps Amayah would come in with strong opinions that differed from mine, and I worried about how we would resolve things if we disagreed on the direction.

 

It turned out, though, that there was nothing to worry about! Amayah and I realized right away that we had the same vision for the story, and that what we wanted for the reader—a fun experience with a peek at the real sorority life—was the same.

 

We started the process by shooting back and forth some ideas, and then we met over Zoom a few times to flesh things out. After that, I’d write some chapters and send them to Amayah to get her feedback, and before you knew it, we had a full book!

 

Q: The writer Layne Fargo said of the book, “Barber and Shaienne’s juicy, sexy, vicious collab is like America’s Next Top Model stitched with The Art of War. You’ll be equally riveted by the reality TV-level drama and the raw authenticity of the characters in this sure-to-go-viral sorority rush thriller.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I love it. I’m a huge fan of Layne’s work, so I was thrilled to get her blurb. It also encapsulates everything we were trying to do: deliver fun, ever-so-slightly-over-the-top drama blended with authentic characters.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: First and foremost, we hope the readers have fun with the story! It’s meant to be dark, catty entertainment. But under that, we hope readers will think about what the book is saying about young women searching for their identity and feeling the need to belong somewhere.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I don’t have anything to announce at the moment, but I’ve written a draft of something that’s currently with my agent. Cross your fingers for me, please!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: This book was a lot of fun to write! One of the things that struck me during the writing process was that, even though Amayah and I joined different sororities and went to different schools in different locations and decades, there were a lot of similar elements to our sorority experiences.

 

And, luckily, neither Amayah nor I ever had a death during recruitment or a sorority sister like Madison Archer!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Kathleen Barber.