DIDIHOOD ~ Issue 23

Happy New Year. Happy New Decade. Happy 2020 Didis! 

This year we will turn two! We are in the midst of planning out everything we want to accomplish for the coming year, and we are so excited to get started. We will be launching our second mentorship program this fall, and we've got a few more goodies up our sleeve too. But first, let's meet our first didi of 2020. 

Meet the Didi: 

Photo by: Andrea Stenson

This month, we are chatting with author Sajidah Ali. Sajidah, who also goes by S.K. Ali, is the author of Saints and Misfits. Her debut novel earned critical acclaim for its portrayal of an unapologetic Muslim American teen. She's now working on a sequel. She also released Love from A to Z last year, which is a story about finding love in the time of Islamophobia. 

When did you decide to pursue a career as an author and artist? 
I knew from quite early on that I wanted to live a creative life. I think it was even from the moment I held my first paintbrush and watched a streak of paint move across a fresh piece of paper — which was my earliest childhood memory. Around the age of 11, I discovered a love for making my own stories and illustrating them too and so, at that time, I decided and proclaimed to all that, "When I grow up, I'm going to become an author." I pursued a degree in creative writing and worked towards publishing my own work. Life detours took me away from this goal for more than 20 years, but now I'm happy to report that I have actually grown up to become an author. 

Your books feature Muslim characters prominently; how important is that to you? 
It's vitally important to me as I grew up being utterly disheartened and disenfranchised from greater society due to all the misrepresentation and mal-representation (which is a word I use to describe the deliberate use of stereotypes) of Muslims in the media. I couldn't see myself and my community as we actually existed and, instead, was constantly bombarded by negative imagery and words and phrases that built up a false reality of what being Muslim meant. I remember being really irritated by this at a very young age, in my tweens in fact, so it could be said that this was an early passion of mine — to work toward the reversal of false narratives circulating about my community. 
However, while the issue of representation began to tug at me early, I never incorporated Muslim characters in the stories I wrote, erroneously believing that only non-Muslim white characters could star in them. The fact remained that back then, it was extremely rare to read books featuring marginalized characters. It was only when I went to university and read African and South Asian novelists, that I felt a sort of "permission" to write authentically. I've never stopped writing Muslim characters since that gate within — the gate keeping myself under the lens of the white gaze — opened wide. And I never want to stop.

What barriers did you face as a woman of colour as you pursued a career in the arts? 
Gatekeeping was the biggest barrier when I was younger. Gatekeeping is done by those in power who seek to maintain the status quo mainly because it benefits them and their views of the world. It was personally frustrating because even though it became apparent over and over that my ability to write creatively was strong and this quickly distinguished my work from my peers, it was only when white teachers, professors and mentors helped elevate my work that I got anywhere. While I'm so very fortunate that I periodically met such people in my life, it's disheartening to know that the system was and is still stacked against marginalized creators. It's like we absolutely must do much more work, be far more talented, have active white allies, patrons or mentors, and stand out in some way, to be even seen, let alone make our mark. 
I'm really grateful now for the internet and social media in particular for giving a platform for creatives of diverse backgrounds to connect, congregate and share our experiences. For a long time, we were toiling far apart from each other not realizing that so many of us were getting responses like, "I can't connect with the characters" from publishing professionals like agents and editors — which was really code-speak for I don't want to connect with these characters who are so different from me. It was only when we creatives began to share these experiences with each other publicly and support the push to kick open the doors of the industry that things began to change, to happen, for more of us. I really hope we keep the doors open — and open wide. 

Where did you get your inspiration from when writing Love from A to Z?
Love from A to Z is a look at how Islamophobia affects young people and how different people cope and arise from their disparate difficulties. It also examines chronic illness and how families care for each other in their own ways and how friends and the communities we built help sustain us — or not. But while it encompasses these topics, it's ultimately a story of romantic love, of how two young people find the best in each other and commit to bringing that out for each other in order to mutually enhance their lives. 
The activism described in the book was actually inspired by real life events I'd read about in the news. A group of young people just outside of Toronto took their Islamophobic high school teacher to task for his hateful online postings. Reading about the bravery of these students moved me so much because it's something I'd always wished I'd done as a young person dealing with Islamophobia at school. So, it ended up being therapeutic to write this story. It helped me deal with the past and feel hopeful about the future — which is something I hope readers take away from Love from A to Z, the sense of hope that's key to living a life of resilience. 

What advice would you give to younger South Asian women who want to pursue a career as an author? 
Like a true didi, I have so many things to share! But I'm going to rein myself in and give three bits that were personally important to breaking through and finally seizing my author dream. One, be dedicated to your craft. Learn as much as you can and read voraciously in the genres you're writing. This will lead to personal conviction that you're doing the best you can in your own work which will lead to confidence — and publishing professionals can sniff out writerly confidence from the very first pages. Second, instead of treating becoming an author as a dream, be pragmatic and put consistent time into your writing, free of all distractions. Finally, seize your differences — but not for the white gaze! One of my favourite parts of being an author is that I get to allow myself to explore my identity in nuanced ways on the page, which is exhilarating when it's led by me and not by what I think other people want to see. There's a sense of white-audience voyeurism that pervades for our narratives still — like, Oh, let's read about how they do arranged marriages! Let's see how this girl stood up against her culture and became free! I think writers who go forth boldly in self-directed ways, shedding the colonized mind, will get rewarded with multi-layered richness that will open doors. 
I also have a private Instagram account to mentor new writers, so please request to follow @sajidahwrites. 

What do you have planned for 2020? 
There's an anthology that author Aisha Saeed and I edited, called Once Upon an Eid, releasing on May 5, 2020 that I'm really excited about. It features 15 diverse voices sharing cosy stories centring Muslim characters on the holiday of Eid. I'm keen on moving away from POC-pain-on-display narratives and when one of our anthology authors, Ayesha Mattu, said "Joy is an act of resistance," I knew we had to put together these stories for all readers to celebrate our happiness with us too. 

What we're reading: 
Brown Girl Magazine's piece spreading education and awareness about India's citizenship amendment bill, #RejectCAB 

Upcoming Event: 
For our Vancouver didis, Radiant Living Vancouver and Shorba Broth Bar Inc. are cohosting the event, Detox and Reset the Ayurvedic Way. Join hosts Mithalee and Muneera for a fun two-hour workshop to learn how to do the detox and take everything you need home with you. For 20 per cent off, use the code "community."

— Nikkjit Gill 

Issue 23 
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