Join sisters and co-authors Nimra and Mana hil Bandukwala\, with moderator Mariam Pirbhai\, as they discuss their boo k Women Wide Awake\, a collection of stories\, poems\, and visual art exploring folklore from the region of Sindh\, Pakistan. This multi-ge nre book features stories of women\, witches\, sea monsters\, and mystical saints\, accompanied by art and poetry.
\nPresented in partnership with Words Worth Books in c elebration of 40 years.
\nAbout Women Wide Awake:
\nWomen Wide Awake is a collection of stories\, poe ms\, and visual art exploring folklore from the region of Sindh\, Pakistan . This multi-genre book features stories of women\, witches\, sea monsters \, and mystical saints\, accompanied by art and poetry. Collectively they explore themes that have resonated with people for centuries&mdash\;acts o f courage\, strength\, defiance\, and love. Two sisters build a labyrinthi ne palace to test their suitors . . . a woman swims across a treacherous r iver at night to meet her forbidden lover . . . a bartendress makes a grav e mistake. These folktales have persisted across generations and national boundaries through ritual storytelling and song. The sculptures were creat ed using reclaimed materials: sari fabric\, wedding invitations\, flowers\ , shells\, and animal bones.
\nAbout the Authors:\n
Manahil Bandukwala is the author of Heliotropia (Brick Books 2024) and Monument (Brick Books 2022\, shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Awar d). With her sister Nimra Bandukwala\, she co-created Reth aur Reghistan\, a multidisciplinary \;project that interprets Pakistani folklore thro ugh contemporary media. With the project\, she has published Women Wid e Awake (Mawenzi House 2023). She is the recipient of arts grants fro m the Canada Council\, the Ontario Arts Council\, and the City of Ottawa. In 2023\, she was selected as a Writer's Trust of Canada Rising Star by Sh ani Mootoo. See her work at manahilbandukwala.com.
\nNimra Bandukwala (she/her) is a visual artist and maker of crafts using foraged and found materials. She creates paints and dyes with plants and rocks\, while exploring stories and histories of these materials. She was born and raised in Karachi and is now settled on the traditional territories of the Attawandaron\, Haudenosaunee and Anishi naabe peoples in so-called Cambridge\, Ontario. She has facilitated commun ity-engaged workshops with folks of all ages and abilities in schools and community-based settings. She co-leads Reth aur Reghistan\, a project that explores folklore from Sindh\, with her sister Manahil. Her work can be f ound on her website\, nimrabandukwala.com and on Instagram @&zwnj\;nimraba ndukwala.art.
\nAbout the Moderator:
\nMariam Pirbhai \;is the award-winnin g author of two works of fiction\, \;Isolated Incident \;and \;Outside People and Other Stories \, and a recent book of creative nonfiction\, Garden Inventories: Reflections on Land\ , Place and Belonging. She is professor of English at Wilfrid Lau rier University\, and the author of several academic studies on the litera tures of the global South Asian diaspora. Her academic and creative work i s written from a decolonial lens and driven by social justice issues impac ting migrant and diasporic communities. Pirbhai is the daughter of Pakista ni immigrants to Canada. She lives and works in Waterloo\, Ontario.
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