Rukan Saif was one of our 2024 Digital Residents. As a part of this program, we do Q&As with our residents to feature them, their work, and their words. See our Q&A with Rukan below, and explore more Spotlights here.
TSW: Tell us about your work, writing, or project. What are you writing these days? How is your work changing, and how is it changing you?
Rukan Saif: I have tried not writing about my women, my identity, etc., but that never works out. Instead I’m leaning into it, generating poems about deshi womanhood. I’ve really enjoyed playing with ekphrastic poems recently; Francesco Renaldi has some interesting paintings of South Asian women, and I think there is so much to dissect there.
TSW: Who do you bring into the room with you when you write, and/or, who do you consider your work to be in conversation with? Who are you writing for?
RS: My mother my mother my mother
TSW: What’s a mantra or motto that you have in mind these days when you are writing or creating? Is there a writing routine or ritual that keeps you beginning?
RS: Recently, I’ve been lighting incense before sitting down to write. It smells so good, and it gets me in the right headspace to get to work.
