As part of my adventure looking into the world of art and self-publishing I got to meet some very peculiar individuals;
a swearing chef with a taste for art, a break dancing fox, a secret society I happen to stumble across which turned out to be a humble writers group, a class of super eager creative writing third year university students, an evil ‘Artificial Intelligence’ which builds websites, an Avengers type group of writers working on a seasonal magazine. I discover in New Amazon a multitude of probably 8 million fan girls and I embark upon a challenging league of writers scribbling to the death…
Simran is the author of S.I.K.H (Silence, I Killed Her). Her play is a riveting story about a topic that is oh so rife and real. Read to find out what it is. I’m not in the business of spoilers.
Kingsley Olaleye Reuben: What got you into writing?
Simaran Sahota: University when I had to do an assignment in one if my modules race writes representation so how race is represented through plays etc. so the assignment was open so you can do what you like. So I did research and I can across Gurpreet Kaur Bhatt’s play called Behzti (dishonour) and I decided to write two scenes of my play. When I finished my degree I decided that I wanted to write the whole entire play.
Do you find it challenging at all to write on such a subject? What was it like gathering research, was you ever hindered by people who perhaps didn’t want you speaking on such a topic?
SS: No, not really cause I have experienced it.
RR: Who is your favourite author?
SS: If I’m honest I never wanted to be a writer I don’t have a favourite author. I have always wanted to act but since I never got the part I decided to write my drama series since I was so inspired and I knew I wanted to write a message of killing baby girls is wrong. From writing about Indians I can play a part in my own work.
In the play who is your favourite character if any?
SS: The mum cause she’s funny in a sarcastic way. Daya kaur is the mums name.
what’s the hardest part of writing for you (if any) Writing about locations, time, making sure the places flow with the writing.
What’s been the easiest?
SS: Knowing the ending lol cause I already written it for my assignment I handed in. The hardest was thinking the beginning and middle.
If you could meet any author past or present who would it be and why?
For me my favourite play is Hamlet, the protagonist captivated me.
RR: What is your favourite play and why?
SS: I don’t have a favourite play I’m more into musicals lol But I was inspired by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s play.
In that case what is your favourite musical and why? Lion king because the puppetry is amazing. The story in General has a lovely message What is the name of your play and what inspired its coinage? S.I.K.H (Silence, I Killed Her) well before the assignment I asked myself questions of what don’t I agree with In my culture and what makes me … Me? What makes me Indian ? Is it the clothes? The food? The music ? The language ? And so on … What upsets me is the gender roles within my culture how girls are deemed as worthless in comparison to the men actually if you watch my YouTube video I explain all this
