Streams that Lead Somewhere by Fareh Malik

Winner of the RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award, 2022
Longlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, 2023

“Poems that make the political personal with ever expanding lyricism and grit. This is a collection as evocative and lingering as it is profound. An unforgettable debut.”
—Ausma Zehanat Khan, author of Blackwater Falls

“Softly defiant and sparkling with vulnerability, Malik’s collection approaches racism, othering and Islamophobia with literary and emotional rigour. Across varied forms and approaches, Malik’s poetic voice reverberates: ‘Trust me on this,’ he writes, and we do. These direct and unflinching poems will grip you.”
—Jaclyn Desforges, author of Danger Flower

Fareh Malik’s debut collection aims to explore the intersection between mental illness and social racialization. The poet dives deep into his long history with Islamophobia, racism, and other forms of discrimination. The book focuses on perseverance and the silver lining that is ever on the horizon with the expectation that you can make it out of any trial or tribulation, if you just follow your dream to wherever it leads.

Fareh Malik, from Hamilton, Ontario, is also a spoken-word artist. He is the winner of the 2022 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award, Hamilton Art’s Shirley Elford Prize, and Muslim Hands Canada’s 2020 Poetry Contest. In 2023, Streams that Lead Somewhere was longlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Fareh was a Best of the Net finalist in 2021, and that same year a Garden Project recipient. His individual works have been published by literary magazines such as Waccamaw Journal, 86 Logic, Lucky Jefferson, Chitro, and Twyckenham Notes. In 2020 some of his work was on exhibit in the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. Fareh tells the stories of his struggle and of the community around him in the hope that others can find inspiration and companionship in it.