Canadian Poets Series #2 : Renée Sarojini Saklikar

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is the author of multiple poetry titles under the umbrella of the life-long epic fantasy in verse, The Heart of This Journey Bears All Patterns, a speculative fiction/poetry series that includes the award-winning children of air india: un/authorized exhibits and interjections (Nightwood Editions, 2013), Bramah and the Beggar Boy (Nightwood Editions, 2021), Bramah’s Quest (Nightwood Editions, 2023) and Listening to the Bees (with Mark Wigston; Nightwood Editions, 2018), as well as the forthcoming Bramah and The Seed Jar, part of a children's book spin-off series from the Bramah books. Her poetry, essays and short fiction have appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies, including through Exile Editions, Chatelaine, The Capilano Review, and Pulp Literature.

She is also the author of a handful of chapbooks, including After the Battle of Kingsway, the bees, (above/ground press, 2016; reprinted 2019), which was a finalist for the 2017 bpNichol award, and from The Book of Bramah (above/ground press, 2019). Her poetry has been made into musical and visual installations, including the opera, air india [redacted], and she curates the popular poetry reading series, Lunch Poems at SFU and has served on the boards of Event magazine and The Capilano Review, as well as a director for the board of the Surrey International Writers Conference. A recent interview can be found on her website, as well as online at Touch the Donkey [a small poetry journal], at the ottawa poetry newsletter by Chris Turnbull and through Finnian Burnett's Five Questions series, with recent work online via The League of Canadian Poets and Chaudiere Books' National Poetry Month series.

Renee Sarojini was poet laureate for the City of Surrey 2015–2018 and also volunteers for the Meet the Presses collective and Poetry in Canada. Renée Sarojini teaches creative writing at Douglas College and helps to host Lunch Poems at SFU. Find out more at https://thotjbap.com/author-qa/