Author Q&A with Renée Sarojini Saklikar

On the last day of National Poetry Month, we're pleased to celebrate one of our recently released titles that has been ten years in the making. Get to know Renée Sarojini Saklikar through this "Author Q&A" and bring some epic fantasy into your poetry world!

Did anything surprise you during the writing process?

Yes! When I started writing Bramah’s Discovery, my imagination whispered to me about seasons shape-shifting into mythical beasts. I started journalling my ideas about morphing April and October, damaged by accelerated climate change, into two mythical feline creatures named Fanon and Gavroche. Fanon was inspired by Frantz Fanon, the French political philosopher, and Gavroche was inspired by the street urchin in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. These two creatures play important roles in the story. They challenged the literary side of my brain to go deeper with the fantastical. Fanon and Gavroche are two of my favourite characters in the THOT J BAP series.

Do you have any routines or rituals that help you write?

When I’m deep into world-building and manuscript writing, these are my go-to rituals. Morning: brewing a cup of ginger tea; watering my house plants; stretching with gentle yoga poses; setting a timer for 20 minutes and then, without looking at any socials or my phone (vital), opening my manuscript or journalling notebook and just “going where the story leads.” Afternoon: reading/researching language, poetry, science, myth, places, history/making notes/saving articles; going for a long walk. Evening: more writing, especially notes on process, storyline, character development to craft a plan (sometimes it’s just jottings) for the following morning.

Is there a sense, memory or feeling that embodies your book?

I love this question! Threaded throughout the book is the way, in times of macro-trauma, our senses can sometimes, magically, shift into hyper-awareness or micro-moments of rhythm and stillness, beauty and serenity: stroking the petals of a flower, listening to birdsong, breaking bread with strangers. The characters in the book discover shelter, even hope, in the midst of war, loss and climate change, by their connection to others, against all odds. “The present is a gift” . . . that’s the feeling.

If your book were a meal, what would it be? 

A banquet of East and West: “un ballon de rouge” (glass of red wine with brioche); South Asian/Gujarati biryani and dal with jeera-roasted chicken (ghee, ginger, garlic, cumin); wild Pacific salmon with whole wheat chapatis; followed by English high tea (crumpets, scones, Earl Grey). Lavender and cardamom. Dates, figs, pastries filled with walnuts. The meal would be representative of the cities Paris, Ahmedabad, Baghdad and “Pacifica” (an imaginary city on the West Coast).

What is a fun fact about yourself?

I love tonal dressing: creating matching outfits in soft warm fabrics and colours, often thrift finds mixed with old expensive classics like tweed and denim. (I did research into the textile/garment trade for Bramah’s Discovery and it is not for the faint of heart. So many implications for the way we live.) My Spring 2026 tonal love is olive green layered with shades & hues that go with: light pink and cherry lacquer. I’m in love with the names of colours; the touch of fabric; patterns and textures. In writing the THOT J BAP series, I’ve discovered that this is part my Saklikar/Marathi/Gujarati heritage.

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The ambitious third instalment of Renée Sarojini Saklikar’s epic fantasy saga in verse, The Heart of This Journey Bears All Patterns (THOT J BAP).

In Bramah’s Discovery, the year is 2110 and Bramah’s journey to discover the truth about her origins, and to find out more about her parents, continues. Along the way, this time-travelling locksmith rescues her friend Amahl the Beggar, trapped in the Eternal Game of Climate Chess; eludes an evil drug-lord; encounters two shape-shifting mythical beasts, Fanon and Gavroche; breaks free from captivity in Baghdad; and battles wits with a Paris collective of super naturals. Each challenge forces Bramah to discover truths about her own demi-goddess self and the price of idealism in the face of ecological and economic calamity.

Ten years in the making, Bramah’s Discovery weaves the devastation of climate change into speculative verse to create an epic family saga that is also a meditation on good and evil. Bramah—brown, brave and beautiful—is determined to conquer the odds and deal with what fate and chance throw in her path. Each twist and turn tests her ability to live up to the motto “Let all evil die and the good endure.”