Bramah and the Beggar Boy — with Renée Sarojini Saklikar

Writer and poet, Renée Sarojini Saklikar joins Am Johal on this episode of Below the Radar to talk about her latest work, Bramah and The Beggar Boy, first in a series, THOT J BAP (The Heart Of This Journey Bears All Patterns). In this episode, Renée reads passages from her new story and discusses the act of writing as a woman of colour, her creative process, and how writing can be a form of survival and resistance. Her book is an epic poem and story which was an amazing 10-year undertaking, describing a future dealing with climate change and a viral bio-contagion. Bramah, a locksmith, part human and part goddess, is part of the poet’s “life-long project of unlocking and unbinding, of challenging the primacy of borders, the formal, the political and the self-imposed.” More details about Renée’s new book and her previous books can be found in the resources below. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/151-renee-sarojini-saklikar.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/151-renee-sarojini-saklikar.html Resources: — Bramah and The Beggar Boy: https://harbourpublishing.com/products/9780889714021 — children of air india: un/authorized exhibits and interjections: https://harbourpublishing.com/collections/renee-sarojini-saklikar/products/9780889712874 — Listening to the Bees: https://harbourpublishing.com/collections/renee-sarojini-saklikar/products/9780889713468 — SFU’s Writer Studio: https://www.sfu.ca/continuing-studies/programs/the-writers-studio-creative-writing-certificate.html — Air India Redacted: https://summit.sfu.ca/item/20083 — THOT J BAP: https://thotjbap.com Bio: Renée Sarojini Saklikar is a poet and lawyer who lives in Vancouver. She is the author of the ground-breaking poetry book, children of air india, about the bombing of Air India Flight 182 which won the Canadian Authors Association Poetry Prize and is the co-author, with Dr. Mark Winston, of the poetry and essay collection, Listening to the Bees, winner of the 2019 Gold Medal Independent Publishers Book Award, Environment/Ecology. She is the curator of the poetry reading series Lunch Poems at SFU and in 2021 curated Vancouver’s first free Poetry Phone, 1-833-POEMS-4-U. Renée Sarojini is an instructor for SFU and VCC and was the first poet laureate for the City of Surrey, (2015-2018). Her work has been adapted for opera, visual art and dance. Her epic fantasy series in verse, THOT J BAP: The Heart Of This Journey Bears All Patterns, is about a female hero battling to save a planet ravaged by climate change, launched in 2021. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Bramah and the Beggar Boy — with Renée Sarojini Saklikar” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, December 21, 2021. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/151-renee-sarojini-saklikar.html