Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooke Sahni.
Hi Brooke, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was always drawn to writing; always kept journals since I first learned to write, but it wasn’t until after high school that I realized I could study writing more formally in college. I went to Prescott College, a small liberal arts college in Prescott, Arizona. With the help of my teachers and mentors, I started to solidify my interest in writing. My undergraduate experience was rich and transformative in terms of how I started to see myself as part of a larger, literary world. I took a few years off between undergraduate and graduate school. In graduate school, I wrote Before I Had the Word, my debut collection that is forthcoming this November from Texas Review Press.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think with any art, it is a struggle to reconcile the lack of financial gain with the time and energy it takes to produce. I do not come from a family of artists, so telling people you are a poet can feel isolating. The challenges of writing itself are a whole other story! The process of taking something that’s deep within you and bringing it out in a way that you feel good about is difficult. The first draft of a piece of writing is really just the beginning.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I write poetry and fiction. My debut poetry collection, Before I Had the Word, won the X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, selected by Maggie Smith, and is forthcoming from Texas Review Press in November 2021. This collection explores the confluences of my religious and cultural identities—Sikhism and Judaism—and attempts to make an argument for the holy in secular experience.
Contact Info:
- Email: bsahni@prescott.edu
- Website: https://www.brookesahni.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brookesahni/
