A COUNTRY CALLED HOME

By SHAGORIKA EASWAR

Janika Oza thinks coming into a room with other authors of colour is important for her, it  fosters a feeling of belonging.

Oza read from her debut novel, A History of Burning (see review on page 24), and took audience questions at an event during the Toronto International Festival of Authors.

Speaking of the experience, she says, “You feel these are my people. I’ve experienced the same at the other end, as a reader – the feeling that this story was written for me, it was meant for me.”

That said, she also believes that how we represent ourselves while making room for others is equally important. “It’s not about being the one token representative, it’s about telling and sharing stories.”

Her novel is the story of four generations of an Indo-Ugandan family spanning 100 years.

“About the stories we pass on through space and time and the stories that remain unspoken, and how far we are willing to go to create a space for ourselves,” she says. “It’s a book about how silences can grow over time. In families and in communities.”

While not autobiographical, her book is in part inspired by the journey of her family, beginning with her great-grandfather who went to East Africa from Gujarat. The next two generations were born there, and her parents’ generation moved to the UK when Idi Amin ousted all South Asians.

A lot of research went into it, as Oza delved into archives, read up old newspaper articles and conducted countless interviews with family members and with others in the community. She collected the stories and experiences of many different lives over the period of six years.

“I definitely didn’t start out with this ambition to write a multi-generational novel,” she says with a laugh. “The initial seed came to me as an image – I saw Rajni and her daughters at a kitchen table in Kampala. From there I started to dig into who these characters were. That took me back to 1947 and with the layers of what they had been through, the expansion kept happening! It was important for me to get to the root of the wounds of family separation and displacement. Which brought me to Toronto of the 90s. I wanted to explore the ways in which this cycle of trying to find stable ground continues even when you are finally in a place you believe to be free and equal. How one can still grapple with what home means if it’s not home for all of us.”

Where people still circle back to the “Where are you from?” query, even for someone born in Canada like Oza was.

Her response depends on who is asking, she says. If it’s another immigrant, or a fellow South Asian, she recognizes the need to connect. It feels different when others ask.

“There’s that sense of ‘You can’t possibly be from here, so where are you from, really?’ For me, the answer is complicated. Yes, I was born here, but I also identify with so many places.”

Oza grew up wanting to be a writer and was always reading and writing stories from a young age.

She was encouraged to do so by her parents, to pursue what they saw as a hobby. That’s where they, like so many immigrant parents, drew the line, wanting her to get a degree and a ‘real’ job. She recognized that this stemmed from wanting to see a secure future for their children. With a degree in immigration settlement studies, she worked as a refugee settlement worker.

“My passions are all connected,” she says.

And she continued to write. During lunch breaks and on weekends. Then there’d be periods when she wouldn’t write for a month or two. It was hard for her to think of herself as a writer, she says, because she wasn’t doing it full-time. But she always came back to it.

She left her job when it was financially possible to do so – after her book deal – and is now focused on her passion. However, this does involve taking on writing jobs, freelance and commission pieces, judging contests and applying for grants. She is also beginning to start teaching writing.

“Writing is central to who I am, but life has to be secure and sustainable. Right now I have to cobble it together!”

Because of the way she had to find time, make the time to write, Oza describes her writing process as “unfussy”.

“I don’t have a special spot, a candle, any of those things. All I need is quiet. During the pandemic, I was living in a basement apartment with five others and a cat, and most of us were working from home. I’d put on my headphones, have some white noise on and write. I try to find pockets of time, but mornings work best for me. That’s when I am less weighed down by emails. And my self-critic!”

She writes whenever and wherever inspiration strikes and says the Notes app on her phone is full.

“It’s unintelligible to others, but for me, that’s where I jot down seeds of ideas.”

In her free time, she loves to run, cook, and garden.

“I live by the lake, and go for a run in the morning, and my little vegetable garden brings me a lot of joy. I also always have a book in my bag, I am always reading. Right now, I am reading The Sorrows of Others by Ada Zhang. It’s a short story collection and incredibly beautiful.”

Her parents moved to Canada in the early 90s and settled in Toronto. Oza describes herself as lucky to have had a strong support network growing up, with a host of uncles and aunties, not related by blood, but with strong bonds nonetheless. Her parents, on the other hand, had to find that community, a sense of family with other immigrants.

Oza shares the importance of this community with those who seek her guidance on how to succeed in Canada.

“Find your people, in writing or the arts, in whatever field you are pursuing. There are others also on that journey, connect with them. For me personally, that was invaluable. I had internalised the fact that writing wasn’t a career option for me, I didn’t believe I would be published and thought it was something I would do ‘on the side’.

“It was difficult for me to carve out a space, to give myself permission to write, in essence. Meeting others in writers’ workshops showed me it could be done, it was possible for me to be a writer. Through them, I found my community. It changed everything. I was also writing short stories and essays, trying to get published in magazines and journals, to connect with readers. Putting out work that means something to me and receiving reader feedback is so validating.

“There are so many ways to be a writer!”

This was also where Oza met her agent. She describes the process from manuscript to a book to her name as both fast and slow.

She and her agent spent a few months on the manuscript, revising it, before submitting it to publishers. Her book got picked up really quickly, and in less than two weeks she had book deal.

A whirlwind of meetings to discuss their shared vision followed. And from that, they were into more revisions. Entire chapters went out the window, and she wrote new chapters. From book deal to published copy, it took two years.

But that’s pretty common, says Oza, who says she was extremely lucky to have editors she loves.

“I felt seen by them. Nothing is guaranteed, but even when it was hard, I knew they believed in the book. I knew no matter how tough it got, it was in the service of the book.”

Her biggest challenge, she says, was her own internal self-critic. She wondered if anyone would be interested, she doubted they’d be able to sell it.

“Writers of colour are often told, ‘There’s already one of you in the room, there’s no space for you’. What kept me going was a sense of purpose. I have to write, even when it is hard. I feel such an immense satisfaction when I write. I choose to write because it feels right for me. So even if it never got published, I was going to write it.

 “Have patience. It takes time to make a life for yourself. Trust that you will figure it out – I am still trying to figure out how to make it work, but loving every moment of it.”

The last line in her acknowledgements is addressed to her father.

I hope this ghadedu did you proud.

“As much as my parents pushed me to other careers, they have always supported me. My dad was the first to call me a writer. I gave them and my brother an early copy before it was published, I wanted them to encounter it before anyone else. They loved it. Specially my dad, who saw how it encapsulated parts of his life, his experiences. It started an ongoing conversation.”

A History of Burning was published to critical acclaim and received much love from readers.

As she enjoys the flurry of book readings and promotional events, Janika Oza is already working on her next book.

“Writing is the way I understand and process the world and what is happening in my life and around me.”

 • Grant’s is proud to present this series about people who are making a difference in the community. Represented by PMA Canada (www.pmacanada.com).