Risky ocean trip ends in woe on land
Vancouver-set story inspired by 2010 refugees incident resonates with current global situation
In the new novel, The Boat People, author Sharon Bala tells the story of a group of refugees that travel across the ocean hoping for a new life, but, instead, find themselves not welcomed, but imprisoned.
Set in Vancouver, the story is inspired by the 2010 MV Sun Sea Incident, when a Thai ship carrying about 500 refugees was intercepted off the coast of B.C.
The St. John’s, N.L.,-based Bala is in Vancouver for a Writer’s Festival event Incite: New Voices of CanLit on Feb. 28. On at the Vancouver Public Library’s main branch, the event also includes writers Kim Fu, Djamila Ibrahim and Guillaume Morissette.
Postmedia News asked Bala a few questions:
Q: This is obviously a timely story. When did you commit to this story and why?
A: I began working on the novel in the summer of 2013 when the Syrian War was in its second year and the boats were beginning to appear on the Mediterranean. The refugee storyline has always been topical, but as I wrote draft after draft and the calendar turned, quieter themes in the book, stories I had thought of as ‘past tense’ — like the Japanese internment and the virulent strain of nationalism that tore Sri Lanka apart — suddenly became timely. It’s been troubling to see history repeat itself and it’s not something I could have predicted.
How was the first-novel experience for you? Best part? Worst part?
Now that The Boat People is out in the world and has received such an incredible reception, I have total amnesia about all the difficult parts of the process. The greatest gift has been working with the team at McClelland & Stewart. For a long time the act of writing a novel felt like a marathon, but by the end I realized that actually it was a relay. I finished the manuscript and then the team at M&S — designers and
publicists and sales people and I don’t even know who else — picked up the baton and ran it to the finish line.
How important was it to you to put actual faces on this crisis?
Too often the voices that dominate the headlines about refugee arrivals belong to politicians who lie in neat sound bites. In the case of the MV Sun Sea and the Ocean Lady, there was a publication ban on the names of the individuals who had arrived. And while this was a necessary precaution to ensure their safety, it also had the perverse side-effect of stripping people of their identities and life stories. In doing the research I kept coming up against this: that I couldn’t get at any of the real individuals, that it was always outsiders (reporters, politicians, internet trolls) who were defining them and framing their narratives. I suppose
I’m the latest outsider to do this, to have the gall to think I can imagine what life is like for a person displaced by war. It was important to me not just to create characters, but to create characters who were complex and real rather than flat, cardboard cut-outs.
You have characters who represent major stages in the refugee reality. Which character did you begin with and why?
Mahindan is not just the protagonist ; he’s the heart of the novel. But this wasn’t my original intention. He snuck onto the scene and then not only did he refuse to be turfed, he also refused to be anything other than the star of the show. Every single reader kept telling me I needed more of Mahindan, that he had to be the diamond in the centre whom all the other characters shone a light on. For a long time, I struggled with this because his story was the most
difficult one to write. But in the end, I’m glad I capitulated because the difficult story is the one most worth telling.
When art reflects issues back on society it seems that more people are interested. With that in mind, what were your concerns in telling this story?
I wasn’t thinking about readers when I wrote this book. That’s the one benefit of writing in total obscurity without any hope of ever being published. For most of the book’s creation it was a solo project that I undertook for my own amusement.
What about researching/writing this book left the biggest impression on you or rather made you more determined to tell this story?
The Sri Lankan war, the Japanese internment, the ill treatment of some people who arrive in this country by boat, the common
thread I found in my research was that of politicians and warmongers ruining people’s lives. Rage and fury fuelled the writing of this book.
What can we learn from this story?
The best stories are the ones that are co-written by readers and writers. I have purposely left room for each reader to decide for themselves. How do you feel about each character’s choices? What happens next, to all these people after the last page of the book? What are you left with? Those are questions only the reader can answer.
What can we as Canadians do better as this crisis continues?
Don’t get complacent. Just last spring, while I was working on copy edits, the federal Conservatives held their leadership race and there was a lot of talk once again about cultural-values tests and old-stock Canadians. If researching this book has taught me anything, it’s that we are always at risk of repeating all our worst mistakes.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a new novel and squaring away a couple of short stories.