Anjili Babbar
Lecturer, Humanities
Teaching interests
Literature and art survey courses; ethics; crime fiction; eighteenth-century Irish and British literature
Research Interests
Crime fiction; Irish literature; eighteenth-century literature; literary forgery; authorship; history of copyright and print culture; folklore; storytelling and creative nonfiction
Selected publications
Nonfiction
Finders: Justice, Faith, and Identity in Irish Crime Fiction. Syracuse University Press,2023.
“Canon Law: Saints and Sinners in Irish Crime Fiction.” Irish Times, 5 June 2023.
“‘This Isn’t Fucking Miss Marple, Mate’: Intertextuality in Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy Series.” Guilt Rules All: Irish Mystery, Detective, and Crime Fiction, edited by Elizabeth Mannion and Brian Cliff, Syracuse University Press, 2020, pp. 174-88.
“Humanizing History: Storytelling and Subjectivity in the Works of Frank Delaney.” New Crops, Old Fields: (Re) Imagining Irish Folklore, edited by Conor Caldwell and Eamon Byers, Peter Lang, 2017, pp. 41-51.
Annotations, transcriptions, and translations for James P. Leary’s Folksongs from Another America: Field Recordings from the Upper Midwest, 1937-1946, University of Wisconsin Press, 2015.
Fiction
“Hey Bulldog.” Happiness Is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of
The Beatles, edited by Josh Pachter, Down and Out Books, 2023, pp. 221-32.
Book Reviews
Suicide Woods: Stories by Benjamin Percy. Washington Independent Review of Books, 11 October 2019.
Game of Snipers by Stephen Hunter. Washington Independent Review of Books, 16 August 2019.
Selected interviews
Interview by Julie Hennrikus. Sisters in Crime Podcast, forthcoming.
Interview by Molly Odintz. “Anjili Babbar on the Rise of Irish Crime Fiction.” CrimeReads, 21 September 2023.
Interview by Ed McKeon. Hoot and Holler, WESU-FM, 12 July 2023.
Interview by Christopher Chambers. “Where is the Street Crime in Crime Fiction?” CrimeReads, 21 October 2022.
Interview by E.A. Aymar. “D.C. Is Full of Crime Fiction Writers, and They Cover More Than Capitol Hill.” Washington City Paper, 12 November 2020.
Reviews of Finders: Justice, Faith, and Identity in Irish Crime Fiction
Robin, Thierry. Études irlandaises, vol. 49, no. 1, 2024, pp. 183-85.
Zgorski, Kristopher. BOLO Books, 17 April 2023.
Duffy, Bob. Washington Independent Review of Books, 17 March 2023.
Selected recent conferences and talks
Panel participant. “Dupin: The Enduring Legacy of the Detective Novel.” Bouchercon World Mystery Conference, Nashville, TN, 2024.
Panel moderator and participant. “The Ethics of Fictional Detectives.” Malice Domestic, Bethesda, MD, 2024.
Panel moderator and participant. “The Past is a Foreign Country.” Bouchercon World Mystery Conference, San Diego, CA, 2023.
Panel participant. “Cat Burglars, Heist Gangs, or Terror Groups? Spicing up Crime Fiction.” Thrillerfest: The Annual Conference of the International Thriller Writers, New York, NY, 2023.
Invited panel moderator and participant. “Thrillers & Horror & Crime, Oh My!” Washington Writers Conference, Bethesda, MD, 2023.
Invited panel participant. “Debut Authors: The Publishing Journey.” Washington Writers Conference, Bethesda, MD, 2023.
Panel moderator and participant. “Creating Convincing Characters.” Malice Domestic, Bethesda, MD, 2023.
Invited opening read. Book launch for Don’t Count Me Out by Rafael Alvarez, Baltimore, MD, 2022.
Panel moderator and participant. “Dark Academia.” Bouchercon World Mystery Conference, Minneapolis, MN, 2022.
Invited panel participant. “Violence in Fiction (Mystery/Noir/Thriller).” Washington Writers Conference, Bethesda, MD, 2019.
“Finders: The Detective Persona and Irish Crime Fiction.” Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, San Diego, CA, 2017.
“Humanizing History: Storytelling and Subjectivity in the Works of Frank Delaney.” New Crops, Old Fields:(Re)Imagining Irish Folklore Conference, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 2013.
Selected Awards
Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction, Finders, 2024.
Anthony Award nomination for Best Critical/Nonfiction, Finders, 2024.
Macavity Award nomination for Best Nonfiction Critical, Finders, 2024.
As a participant
Anthony Award nomination for Best Anthology: Happiness Is a Warm Gun, 2024.
Edgar Award nomination for Best Critical/Biographical: Guilt Rules All, 2021.
Grammy Award nomination for Best Album Notes, Folksongs of Another America, 2016.