In Volume Six: Chapter Thirteen we welcome Amsterdam-born, Kingston Ontario-based Writer, Poet, Author, and EssayistSadiqa de Meijer. She is the author of two acclaimed poetry collections — Leaving Howe Island, finalist for both the Governor General’s Award for English-language Poetry and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and The Outer Wards, a finalist for the Raymond Souster Award. She is also the author of two nonfiction collections: the Governor General’s Award–winning alfabet / alphabet: A Memoir of a First Language, and her newest book, In the Field, now available from Palimpsest Press. Sadiqa is also the current Poet Laureate for Kingston, Ontario. This is her first appearance on the program.
In our conversation, Sadiqa traces her creative history back to childhood — from immigrating from the Netherlands to Canada at age twelve, and how those early linguistic and cultural shifts shaped both her worldview and her writing. She reflects on experiencing marginalization as a person of color in Dutch society, the challenges of immigration, and the humility and attentiveness those experiences instilled in her as an artist.
We talk about the deep imaginative life she had as a child: disappearing into books, being surrounded by storytelling, and how the desire to transform the private experience of reading into “conversation” was her earliest pull toward writing. She discusses discovering poetry in elementary school, becoming more intentional about her craft in high school and university, and the moment writing shifted from something she loved to something that felt essential — a part of her identity.
We go deep into her award-winning nonfiction book alfabet / alphabet, where she examines losing — and later reclaiming — her mother tongue, Dutch. Sadiqa discusses how language shapes memory, how certain emotions exist differently in different languages, and why writing this book was personally necessary. She also speaks about the difference between the inward resonance she privileges in poetry and the slightly more outward-facing awareness she brings to her essays.
Contact Sadiqa:
Instagram: @sadiqademeijer Website: sadiqademeijer.com
Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:
Jasmine Mans – You Gon' Get This Work
Instagram: @poetjasminemans Website: jasminemans.com
Bianca Phipps – Born To Embody It
Instagram: @biancaphipps
Lady Brion – I Talk Black
Instagram: @ladybspeaks Website: ladybrion.com
Javon Johnson – The Shotgun
Instagram: @javonism
Rudy Francisco – Honesty
Instagram: @rudyfrancisco Website: iamrudyfrancisco
