Podcast Summary: New Books Network Episode: Somia Sadiq, "Gajra" (GFB, 2025) Date: December 14, 2025 Host: Rebecca Buchanan

Overview

This episode of the New Books Network features an in-depth conversation between host Rebecca Buchanan and author Soumia Sadiq about Sadiq’s debut novel, Gajra. The discussion traverses the book’s themes of intergenerational trauma, migration, resilience, the complexity of forgiveness, and the nonlinear journey of healing. Sadiq provides personal insight into her writing process and the emotional undertones of her book, which challenges linear narratives and conventional genre boundaries.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Synopsis and Origins of Gajra

• [01:57] Sadiq describes her novel as “a story about reclaiming your voice, about wrestling with trauma, about making sense of trauma.” The book follows a young girl’s journey through childhood and adulthood as she processes personal and inherited wounds, anchoring her search for belonging in ancestral wisdom.
• The story is deeply rooted in themes of identity, belonging, and the experience of migration between Pakistan and Canada.

2. Personal and Professional Inspirations

• [02:48] Sadiq connects her background in peace negotiation and conflict transformation to the story, highlighting the importance of naming intergenerational trauma and the costs of resilience.
• The main character, Iman, encapsulates the emotional realities of being a “daughter of migration,” longing for home, and navigating multiple identities. Sadiq shares how her lived experiences and work with survivors of domestic violence and migration enriched the novel’s authenticity.

3. Genre-Bending Structure & Use of Poetry

• [06:55] The novel intentionally disrupts genre conventions, mixing prose, poetry, and fairy-tale elements. Sadiq explains this reflects the messy reality of trauma: “That sense making can happen in so many ways with so many modalities...expressions can happen in so many different ways. Sometimes it's an outburst, other times it's metaphors, other times it's allegories.”
• Each chapter ends with a poem, offering multiple perspectives on Iman’s journey.

4. Nonlinear Narrative & Flashbacks

• [09:28] Sadiq discusses her choice to embrace a nonlinear, memory-driven narration, mirroring the unpredictable arc of trauma and healing: “The writing journey is as linear or as non linear as the journey of trauma itself.”
• The novel employs flashbacks to deepen understanding of current events and character motivations.

5. Writing as Healing and Ongoing Process

• [12:33] For Sadiq and her protagonist, writing is both refuge and revelation. The novel took about a year to write, blending entries from different periods: “It was somehow always tying to something that had happened in the past.”

6. Representation of Strength, Vulnerability, and Resilience

• [15:10] Sadiq challenges conventional ideas about strength and resilience:
  • “Resilience can be in the silence. Resilience can be in taking our time to observe and make sense. Resilience can be in the enraged expression of what we're experiencing. So vulnerability and resilience can coexist.”
• Healing is depicted as non-linear, never finished, with strength and weakness existing side by side.

7. The Complexity of Forgiveness

• [20:21] Forgiveness emerges as a central, challenging theme, both in the novel and Sadiq’s peacebuilding work.
  • Sadiq recounts a ritual of forgiveness witnessed in her work:

    “After they had worked through their differences over weeks, they had an entire ritual centered on forgiveness, where one family made a feast for the other family. The family who was forgiving was the one who made the feast...It stuck with me as yet another way that we wrestle with forgiveness.”

  • She explores the societal and personal pressures around forgiveness, questioning if and when victims have the right and capacity to forgive.

8. Self-Care During Difficult Storytelling

• [23:20] Sadiq is candid about the emotional labor of writing trauma:
  • “For me to write about this, I had to be very careful to let the writing happen when it happened...I had pre booked appointments with my clinical psychologist...went for long walks...celebrated small wins.”
  • She underscores the importance of not working alone in trauma-informed fields, relying on a support network for feedback and processing.

9. Characters and Creative Process

• [27:35] The characters, especially protagonist Iman, “came to me...and I almost let the characters tell me what that would look like.” Iman, and others like Nanojan, are amalgams of experiences from many women Sadiq has known or worked with.

10. Belonging, Home, and Diaspora

• [28:45] Sadiq discusses the complicated, ongoing negotiation of “home” as a migrant:
  • “Have always wrestled with whether or not Canada is home, whether or not even I as a person can belong in Canada.”
  • The book reflects the constant struggle for belonging and the impact of intersectional identities.

11. Influences and Hopes for Gajra

• [31:56] Sadiq cites Khaled Hosseini, Elif Shafak, Nikita Gill, and Alka Joshi as key influences.
• [33:04] Her hopes for Gajra: that survivors feel seen, that readers approach others with more “compassion and understanding for different ways of living, different ways of expression.”

12. What’s Next

• [35:56] Sadiq encourages reviews of the book for visibility, announces the audio version (personally narrated by her), and shares that her next project—by popular demand—is a prequel focusing on Nanojan.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On naming trauma:

  “We're finally in that moment where we're starting to name intergenerational trauma. We're starting to name displacement and the cost of what it means to be resilient.” (Sadiq, 02:48)

• On mixing genres:

  “This book refuses to sit in a genre...making sense of trauma...can happen in so many ways with so many modalities.” (Sadiq, 07:24)

• On resilience:

  “Vulnerability and resilience can coexist. And I think that comes out quite loudly in Gajra, where it's not done. Healing is never done. Resilience is never done. Strength can become weakness, and that in itself can be resilient as well.” (Sadiq, 15:10)

• On forgiveness:

  “Writing about forgiveness...probably broke me a few times through the process of writing, because you're right. Like, it is probably the most central theme of the work that I do is what does it look like to forgive?” (Sadiq, 21:01)

• On belonging:

  “I've always had a complicated relationship with Canada. Being a newcomer myself...when someone would ask me where I'm from, I didn't know how to answer that question...Gajra reflects that wrestling of what it means to be constantly pulled by your homeland.” (Sadiq, 29:14)

• On the hope for the book:

  “I hope people feel seen...I hope Kajala creates an opportunity for people to express that human to human curiosity about our collective experiences.” (Sadiq, 33:24)

Key Timestamps

• [01:57] — Sadiq summarizes the novel’s themes
• [02:48] — Origins of the story and connections to peace work
• [06:55] — Genre-blending and narrative structure
• [09:28] — Nonlinear narrative and trauma’s timeline
• [12:33] — Writing process and using personal/professional experiences
• [15:10] — Representation of resilience and vulnerability
• [20:21] — Discussing the complexity and meaning of forgiveness
• [23:52] — Self-care practices during the writing process
• [27:35] — Creation of characters and voice
• [28:45] — Wrestling with belonging and home as a migrant
• [31:56] — Literary influences and inspirations
• [33:24] — Hopes for the book’s impact
• [35:56] — Audiobook details and future projects

Conclusion

This thoughtful interview provides deep insight not only into Gajra as a unique literary work but also the lived realities informing its creation. Soumia Sadiq’s candid reflections illuminate the challenges of capturing trauma, healing, forgiveness, and belonging, offering listeners a rich understanding of both her novel and the urgent, universal themes it explores.