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    Interview with an Author - Sana Samad

    Discussion Interview With An Author On Writing
    This month, we were delighted to interview Sana Samad, a 39 year old Canadian Pakistani mother to two young boys, who are 8 and 6 years old respectively, and whom she currently homeschools. When not being a mom, playing sports, reading, or writing, she also runs a small business called Sweet Seconds Cookies, which serves the Oshawa/Durham region in Ontario. 

    ​You can find her writing on Instagram as @sana.ess and support her business at     @sweet.seconds.cookies.
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    Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

    What was your first creative writing piece, as far as you can remember?
    As far as I can recall, I believe it was when I was in grade 7...probably around the time I was about to leave Abu Dhabi to move to Canada. I think it was a poem to one of my friends in school.
    Did you always feel drawn to creative writing? What got you into creative writing?
    When I was younger, I liked writing rhyming poetry. I wasn’t good at it, but I enjoyed doing it. As an adult, I love reading a good rhyming book or poem, but I find it harder to rhyme now because I don’t want it to feel forced. Creative writing was my way to express my feelings for others and sort my own feelings as well. Writing in journals/diaries, and letters that I never posted, is what got me through the first few years of being in Canada. ​
    Who were some of the major influences/supports, real or fictional, in your creative writing journey?
    Honestly, I don’t know. I loved reading books and stories by Enid Blyton as a kid. My parents always encouraged us to read. I think I got my love of writing from my mother, though. Even though I don’t remember her writing creatively, I do recall her writing in her journal every day for years. Apart from my parents, one of my maternal aunts and a few friends have also been extremely supportive of my writing. ​
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    Interview with an Author - Nida Rashid

    Discussion Interview With An Author On Writing
    This year, we wanted to showcase authors of all sorts here at Sakina Literary Society of the Arts, and give readers and writers a look behind the scenes at different Muslim authors' writing journeys. With this, we hoped to demystify the act (and art) of writing, to showcase the vast variety of Muslim authors and their works, and to encourage you to join them in their literary endeavours without fear. We start off our 2026 interviews with Nida Rashid, author of From You...to You, Post Parting, and HumDrums. You can find her on Instagram as @ennarre.
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    ​How long have you been writing? 
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    I started writing for myself when I was around 11 years old. It was always poetry to start--I loved to rhyme. 

    What was your first creative writing piece, as far as you can remember?

    I wrote a song called "Puppy Dog Face" about people who use their innocent charm to get away with mischief. The song had a great hook, "don't give me that puppy dog face, that puppy dog face". My sister and her friend found it and made so much fun of me  that I deleted it from the computer. 
    Did you always feel drawn to poetry? What got you into writing poetry?

    Yes. I always felt drawn to tones and rhythm. Poetry appealed to me, ironically because of Quran recitation (in the Quran itself, it is repeated that the Quran is not mere poetry for entertainment). The calming tones, and various recitations led me to recognize how words can carry powerful meaning in their rhythm. When I discovered spoken word poetry on Youtube, I was completely mesmerized. 

    Once, in high school, I had to present a biology project but had only 24 hours to come up with a presentation. I realized poems are easy to memorize, so I made a 3 minute spoken word poem about the topic.  My science teacher was so impressed that science could be presented in an artistic form--I got an A. From then on, whenever I needed to remember a difficult topic--I wrote a poem. 

    Who were some of the major influences/supports, real or fictional, in your creative writing journey?

    Sarah Kay - her spoken word on Youtube is what helped me gain confidence to speak my poems aloud.  My friends - who would read my poems and tell me they felt something in reading it. 
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    Discussion: "A woman's greatest enemy? A lack of time to themselves", by Brigid Schulte

    Discussion
    For our fourth monthly meeting, Sakina's members will be discussing the following article.
    ​Comment below and tell us what you think! Do you agree? Disagree? Does she have  valid point or do you think the situation is more nuanced than this?
    ​A few months ago, as I struggled to carve out time in my crowded days for writing, a colleague suggested I read a book about the daily rituals of great artists. But instead of offering me the inspiration I’d hoped for, what struck me most about these creative geniuses – mostly men – was not their schedules and daily routines, but those of the women in their lives.

    Their wives protected them from interruptions; their housekeepers and maids brought them breakfast and coffee at odd hours; their nannies kept their children out of their hair. Martha Freud not only laid out Sigmund’s clothes every morning, she even put the toothpaste on his toothbrush. Marcel Proust’s housekeeper, Celeste, not only brought him his daily coffee, croissants, newspapers and mail on a silver tray, but was always on hand whenever he wanted to chat, sometimes for hours. Some women are mentioned only for what they put up with, like Karl Marx’s wife – unnamed in the book – who lived in squalor with the surviving three of their six children while he spent his days writing at the British Museum.

    Gustav Mahler married a promising young composer named Alma, then forbade her from composing, saying there could be only one in the family. Instead, she was expected to keep the house utterly silent for him. After his midday swim, he’d whistle for Alma to join him on long, silent walks while he composed in his head. She’d sit for hours on a branch or in the grass, not daring to disturb him. “There’s such a struggle going on in me!” Alma wrote in her diary. “And a miserable longing for someone who thinks OF ME, who helps me to find MYSELF! I’ve sunk to the level of a housekeeper!"