Books

Ever since I can remember, I have always had my nose in books. The smell of books in a bookstore or a library overtakes my senses.  My passion lies in books, reading, and writing.

I loved to write in school and then continued through my university years. I was very fond of poetry and in general, writing fiction. During my university days at Carleton University, Ottawa, I took a poetry workshop as one of my options under the English literature program. I enjoyed the workshop immensely as it took me away to another world, unexplored, and undiscovered words, and phrases. Since then, my love for poetry grew and took off. I wrote for a number of years on various subjects. These poems, however, ended up in a box, which moved from one country to another country and lay in the basement of our Ottawa home for many years. I was not very keen on publishing any of my work; I felt it was too personal. But the year 2017 became a turning point in our lives.  It was now or never, I thought. I gathered up all my poems, sorted them out, and headed to the publishers.  There was no looking back. Around this time, a personal incident, my husband’s heart surgery in particular pushed me to complete and publish my first book.  The launch of my book was a great success, and we raised close to $1,000. All proceeds of the book sales were given to the Ottawa Heart Institute. This was our way of saying thank you to the staff of the Ottawa Heart Institute and giving back to the community. This became the be-all and end-all of our lives. 

After my first book, Nature’s Subtle Seductions, Fragments, and Raindrops followed. There was this great desire or ambition to continue with my writing. I felt I was honing my skills as a poet, and as a writer. I explored the option of contributing to many online anthologies.  Some of my submissions were accepted and others were rejected.  Rejection is hard to take, however, this deepened my resolve to continue and accomplish my goal of writing well and publishing several books of poetry.  I am a news junkie, news affects me every which way. I call my poetry “journalistic poetry”. This is the type of poetry that defines me and who I am. 

COVID-19 changed our lives forever. In 2020,  the Ottawa Ethnic Media Forum and the Media Club of Ottawa collaborated on the COVID 19 Chronicles. A number of local Ottawa authors and some from the outskirts contributed to this anthology.  We won the award for this endeavor in the print category from the Canadian Ethnic Media Awards Association. 

This was followed by Part 2 of the COVID 19 Chronicles which was published in 2021. 

There are several projects on the go, including Part 3 of the COVID-19 Chronicles. 

All my books are available on Amazon, Indigo, and Barnes and Noble, or contact me at asiansounds1@hotmail.com