The Problem Drinker

His girlfriend is horror famous, his own writing and acting is floundering, and he is drinking to make sense of it all.

Kyle Kouri’s debut non-fiction collection is full of ‘whiskey courage’ staring at the abyss of family, writing rejection, relationships, and his own drinking. From hijinks at AWP to hustling in the movie business, Kouri bridges the gap in drama between indie and horror.

At turns hilarious and heartbreaking, The Problem Drinker is the story of an artist living with another artist, yearning to move the needle in his career, amidst a sea of personal tragedies and comedies. If F. Scott Fitzgerald had one foot in the 2020s horror scene, that’s the spirit of Kouri’s caustic and big-hearted, lush and refreshingly candid debut.

Kyle Kouri (@kylekouri on Instagram) received his MFA in Fiction from Columbia University. He is the co-founder of Slashtag Cinema, a film production company, and has directed and acted in several films and plays. This includes directing and starring in the award-winning horror short film Keep Coming Back, and acting in Family Movie, which premiered at SXSW. His writing has appeared in Hobart Pulp, Maudlin House, Pool Party Magazine, Cleaver Magazine, the Columbia Journal, Farewell Transmission, Bruiser Magazine, BULL, and Icebreakers Lit. The Problem Drinker is his first book. His first novel, Graveyard, is forthcoming from Rejection Letters. He lives nowhere with his rescue dogs and his girlfriend, the writer CJ Leede.