MEET GURJINDER
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Award-winning author Gurjinder Basran.
Gurjinder Basran is the award-winning author of three novels: Everything Was Good-bye, winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and a Chatelaine Book Club pick; Someone You Love Is Gone; and Help! I’m Alive (ECW Press).
A Simon Fraser University Writer’s Studio alumna hailed by the CBC as one of “ten Canadian women writers you need to read,” Basran balances the demands of her creative life with her “other” career in the tech sector. She is currently the director of learning, development and communications at Bell Canada. She lives in Delta, BC, with her family.
Name: Gurjinder Basran. Gurjinder means victory or achievement of the guru. It’s a lot to live up to!
Currently: My fourth novel, The Wedding, has been published! It’s about the secret lives of the wedding party, guests and event staff in the lead up to a lavish, week-long Indian wedding in Vancouver, BC. It centres on the impending marriage of Devi and Baby and illustrates the union of two people and more importantly, two prominent Indian families as they navigate gossip, family resentments and long held regrets.
My life in 50 words (or less!): I’m an award-winning author and many of my personal experiences straddling culture and identity inform my writing. I’m the youngest of six and my family – both immediate and extended – is still the most important part of my life. I value creativity and connection above all things.
The writer in me took flight when: I was reflecting on youth and journaling about my experiences growing up in the 70s and 80s in Canada and those recollections became the foundation of my first novel, Everything Was Good-bye.
The poet in me wishes: We could live smaller and fuller lives by wanting less and connecting more.
The techie in me wants to: Unplug from time to time and replace screen time and scrolling with real life; it’s too easy to confuse productivity with living.
My favourite line in poetry: From A Continuous Life by Mark Strand: That your search goes on for something you lost – a name, /A family album that fell from its own small matter/Into another, a piece of the dark that might have been yours.
Favourite colour: Black, even though I know it’s not technically a colour!
Favourite designer: Sabyasachi – the editorials are an aspirational cool that I would like to embody at least once. I studied fashion design after high school and admire designers who changed the direction of fashion in history – Dior in the 40s, Vivienne Westwood in the 70s, Donna Karen in the 80s and Alexander McQueen in the 90s.
Favourite movie: Pride and Prejudice (the six-hour BBC mini-series version), The Matrix, and more recently, Past Lives.
Favourite books: Olive Kitteridge and Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri.
The Wedding by Gurjinder Basran is published by Douglas & McIntyre, $24.95.
Favourite authors: Jhumpa Lahiri and Kazuo Ishiguro – masterful writers.
Favourite TV shows: Severance, The Bear, Game of Thrones, Somebody Somewhere and Ted Lasso and Schitt’s Creek for a much-needed laugh.
Favourite ice cream flavour: Pralines and cream.
Favourite cuisine: Indian and Mexican.
Favourite restaurant: I don’t have one!
Favourite activities: Reading, anything fitness related, walking with my dog, spending time with family.
I hang out: At home! I’m a real homebody and creature of comfort.
I’m freaked out by: Driving uphill and having to stop on a steep incline! I’ll go out of my way to avoid hills.
I need: Time to myself. As an ambivert I need regular recharge time
My role models: My friends and family. I look up to them in countless ways, and they make me better in even more ways.
Tips to save the planet: Be kind. Everything starts with character, who you are determines what you’ll do.
In a perfect world: Everyone’s basic needs would be met and all people could live a dignified life, free of tyranny, war and hunger.
More about Gurjinder at www.gurjinderbasran.ca.
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