Rajinderpal S. Pal

I am a writer, a public performer and speaker, based in Toronto. My father was highly acclaimed Punjabi poet Bishambar Singh Saqi and my first collection of poetry, pappaji wrote poetry in a language i cannot read (TSAR, 1998) was inspired by a yearning to better understand this man I barely knew — he passed away when I was only ten years old, but still has an oversized influence on my life. The collection was the winner of the 1999 Writers Guild of Alberta Award for Best First Book.

My second book, PULSE (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002), was short-listed for both the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize and the Writers Guild of Alberta Award for Best Book of Poetry.

My long hiatus from the world of books and creative writing—primarily dictated by a very successful career in sales and marketing in the medical devices and diagnostics industry—was broken with the publication of my debut novel, However Far Away (House of Anansi, 2024). The novel was long listed for CBC Canada Reads 2025 and an early excerpt was awarded a Penguin Random House Student Award for Fiction through the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. Apple Books calls However Far Away “a bold look at the consequences of making—and not making—important decisions.”

My work tends to focus on themes of love, family, tradition, and duty, and is rooted in the Sikh culture

I was raised in a tradition of poetry, and creative arts, as a connector of, and between, communities. I am a strong believer that the sharing and performance of creative work is as important as the writing and cherish that special connection between artist and audience that is only possible at a live reading.

I am currently working on a second novel and a selected/collected book of poems.