RESTORING RELATIONSHIPS to Ourselves, to One Another, and to the Earth

AN INTERVIEW WITH FARIHA RÓISÍN

- STEPHEN KIESLING

Fariha Róisín is an acclaimed poet and novelist, as well as a queer Muslim who grew up immersed in Buddhism and Hinduism—while reading Spirituality & Health. She also grew up with unspeakable abuse. Her new book is Who Is Wellness For: An Examination of Wellness Culture and Who It Leaves Behind. It is a critical memoir about the formation of a pioneering spirit for our times.

Let’s go back to your earliest memory: Your mom is tying herself to a railroad track, screaming that she wants to die. That’s extreme.

I’m sure this is very apparent in a lot of my work, but I grew up around and witnessed extreme violence from a very young age. And I think when you are able to face those parts of yourself and acknowledge something as dire and sad as realizing that my earliest memory is of my mother tying herself to a train track and being unfazed that her children are watching … yeah, it’s just a lived reality of mine. I know that it may sound incomprehensible to a lot of people, but it’s my reality.

By the same token, your parents experienced genocide in Bangladesh during the 1970s. That’s hard to grasp. When did you begin to tie those stories together?

From my childhood to my mid-20s, I was in survival mode: “I just have to keep going. I just have to keep going. I just have to keep going—