The writer and poet Renée Sarojini Saklikar discusses her new book Bramah and the Beggar Boy (Nightwood Editions, 2021), with Joseph Planta.

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Bramah and the Beggar Boy by Renée Sarojini Saklikar (Nightwood Editions, 2021). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Bramah and the Beggar Boy

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Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Renée Sarojini Saklikar joins me again. She recently published a new book, the first in an epic fantasy series in verse, Bramah and the Beggar Boy. The series is called THOT J BAP, The Heart of This Journey Bears All Patterns. Its story is told in traditional poetry forms, such as blank verse and the sonnet, combined with news reportage and the science of climate change. I’ll get Ms. Saklikar to tell us about this book, the central characters therein, especially Bramah, a locksmith who is brown, and supported by her Grandmother, and the Four Aunties of the Wishing Well. I’ll ask Renée about why her main characters are female, as well we’ll talk about the various themes that are touched upon in the book. For example, the Aunties foretell the future and teach survival skills, such as saving seeds, and making soap. These are skills necessary in a world battling contagion and eco-catastrophes that are around the characters in the book in the future, not to mention very near future. The book also touches on climate activism, gender and race politics, all timely subjects. I’ll talk to Renée about reading dystopian fiction in a time where a lot of it is around us. Renée Sarojini Saklikar is a poet and lawyer. Her first book children of air india, a book of poetry on the bombing of Air India Flight 182 was critically acclaimed. Her poetry and essay collection with Dr. Mark Winston, Listening to the Bees, was also a critical success. She is an instructor for SFU and VCC, and was the first poet laurate of the City of Surrey (2015-2018). Visit https://thecanadaproject.wordpress.com/ for more. This new book is published by Nightwood Editions. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Renée Sarojini Saklikar; Ms. Saklikar, good morning.

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