Canada Reads spotlight: Samra Habib's We Have Always Been Here
Given the ongoing developments with COVID-19 and the related travel concerns, Canada Reads was postponed.
To replace the broadcast of the debates in March, CBC Books created Canada Reads spotlight programming, a series of five one-hour programs dedicated to this year's books, authors and panellists.
Canada Reads 2020 will now take place July 20-23.
In place of the show back in March, CBC Books presented a series of one-hour programs on CBC Radio dedicated to this year's books and authors.
This episode was about We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib. She's a Toronto journalist and self-taught photographer whose project, Just Me and Allah, has attracted acclaim from all over the world. Habib has been travelling across Europe and North America, photographing queer Muslims and sharing their stories of resilience and beauty.
She documents her own story for the first time in the memoir We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir. It begins with her childhood in Pakistan, becoming a refugee at age 10 and coming of age in a new hostile land.
The Handmaid's Tale and Kim's Convenience actor Amanda Brugel will defend the book on Canada Reads 2020.
From the beginning
"I am originally from Pakistan. My family was part of a minority sect in the country. We were treated in an awful way by Muslim extremists in Pakistan, so we moved to Canada as refugees. I was about 10 years old. Even though I knew that we were not safe, I still enjoyed Pakistan. I had family there. It was hard for me to leave a place that I really, really loved.
We struggled almost overnight when we moved to Canada.- Samra Habib
"We were upper middle-class back in Pakistan. We struggled almost overnight when we moved to Canada. My parents didn't speak English very well, so their employment opportunities were limited. Now we were in survival mode because of our overnight change in our financial situation and status."
Writing about your life
"The book is about finding my place in the world, while feeling very much like an outsider my entire life. It's also about forgiveness: forgiving my parents and at times, also myself. While writing the book, I actually realized the trauma that I was carrying as a result of being a refugee. It helped me realize that I just need to be gentle on myself. I find, oftentimes, that I'm hard on myself. I just need to allow myself to react to things the way I need to react — because they're a result of the kind of life that I've lived.
I felt like I met myself for the first time.- Samra Habib
"It was very therapeutic. I met myself for the first time. There's a great quote by James Baldwin: 'Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.'
"That resonates with me. Writing usually is how I process what I am going through and what I am thinking. So it provided me an opportunity to figure out where the healing needed to be."
Creating Just Me and Allah
"I worked in fashion journalism and I understand the power of imagery. There's so much that has been written about being queer and Muslim in academia. I feel that what you can convey in an image is stronger than what you can convey in a 1,000-word dissertation about what it means to have multiple identities. You reach more people that way.
"Having worked in media for a long time, it's really validating to have this platform where someone is not editorializing queer Muslim experiences. I'm just giving people this platform to show who they are, in their own words. I want to be on this journey as long as I possibly can.
"The common thread that ties everyone together is having to deal with this misconception of what the general population thinks Muslims are like and them having to fight against it and live their lives. I think that is why the project has gotten so much momentum because it is different from what is out there when it comes to how Muslims are portrayed.
"I hope that I'm in a way contributing to their understanding of what Muslims are, who Muslims are and the diverse range of experiences that they have."
Amanda Brugel on why she chose We Have Always Been Here
"As Canadians, we have always championed stories of people who are different than us. This is a very specific community. There are marches and Black Lives Matter and we're getting a little bit better when it comes to our acceptance of LGBTQ rights, but the LGBTQ Muslim community is rarely spoken about. I was fascinated to learn about the Muslim experience, the immigrant experience. Immigrants make up a significant portion of our country and we don't tell their stories quite often.
I think the biggest thing for me is hearing voices of women of colour. That's what's really fuelling me.- Amanda Brugel
"I'm on a television show called Kim's Convenience. It's a wildly popular show on CBC. It's resonated with so many different people across the country. Maybe you weren't born in Lahore, Pakistan and maybe you don't happen to be Muslim, but there are so many parts of the story that will resonate — accepting yourself and finding a community that accepts you.
"I think the biggest thing for me is hearing voices of women of colour. That's what's really fuelling me."
The Canada Reads 2020 contenders
- Alayna Fender defending Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles
- Akil Augustine defending Radicalized by Cory Doctorow
- Amanda Brugel defending We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib
- Kaniehtiio Horn defending Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
- George Canyon defending From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
