When Sajla Anees was in school and in college, she primarily wrote poetry, and wasn’t inclined towards lengthy content.
However, she remembers the Syrian war taking place and feeling deeply bothered by the pain surrounding it. This troubled feeling later transformed into inspiration as she decided to take her pen and write a few pages about it. This was the stepping stone that led to the publication of her debut book, ‘Refuge’, in 2020 and earned her a nomination for the 2021 State Literary Awards.
Following this, Sajla’s deep desire to create awareness on fundamental topics such as war and trauma continued and came to fruition again with her second book, ‘To Hear You Breathe’, an emotional story drawn from the wounds of the genocide in Bosnia, published by The Jam Fruit Tree Publications – the same publisher who brought forth ‘Refuge’.
War and pain
“I think it’s so much easier for us to look at a screen with news about war and pain. We might feel for them but at one point we can get desensitised and numb to it. It’s very normal for us to see children bleeding because it’s the norm now.”
Sajla, therefore, believes that writing can really have an impact on someone. She explained how stories help people to connect with others more clearly and convey much more meaning.
“If you were to watch a video of someone, you won’t know about their history or their background. You know only what you see,” she said.
She also tends to write and read “sad” content because she believes it leaves a mark more than a happy story, to which she mentioned ‘Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak being one of her favourite books. Through her own work, Sajla wants to show that even through difficult times there is still happiness and we can still find hope in faith, in friendships and in love.
As a lawyer with a passion for volunteer counselling, Sajla constantly learns about grief and helps people cope with their pain, and is generally passionate about making life easier for others.
“When I’m struggling with self-esteem in my writing, I always tell myself that I am not writing my story. I’m writing someone else’s story and creating awareness of something bigger than myself. I’m someone who feels very deeply and if God has opened all these doors for me, including easy access to research, then I need to move forward with it,” she said.
It isn’t something she necessarily does for herself, but for society. She also explained how a book lives longer than a writer and how this would be something she could leave behind long after she’s gone as well.
“I know it’s not going to stop the cruelty of the world but it still leaves an impact. Someone will probably step back and reconsider their perspective on certain things,” said Sajla.
Her passion for writing came from reading. Learning all three languages was something that was prioritised in Sajla’s family since she was young. She also explained how an elder cousin of hers would buy her a lot of books as well such as the ‘Chacha Chaudhary Comics’ to encourage reading.
Inspiration
When she was doing mathematics for her AL’s, she explained how reading felt like a treat and how it kept her going through all the academic stress.
Sajla mainly relies on inspiration for her writing. In the year 2020, Bosnia had the 25th memorial for the 1995 Genocide.
“I was born in 1995 and was twenty-five-years-old myself when I heard of the memorial. I saw the newspaper article and was shocked to learn about it,” recalled Sajla.
“Despite the fact that we are exposed to a lot of content, I myself didn’t know about the Bosnian Genocide. This made me wonder how many others are still in the dark as well, which ultimately urged me to write on it.”
Sajla wanted another theme in the story so that it has a grip on the readers as well. She had to do a lot of research on art since the protagonist of the book is an artist.
She is a very visual writer and was deeply inspired by the artist Vincent van Gogh and his tragic life story. This also inspired the author as in her book, ‘To Hear You Breathe’, her husband of the protagonist wants to push with her art. Sajla was also stuck on the decision whether or not she should make the art abstract until she realised that it’s easy to show emotions through abstract.
“Abstract can flow and you don’t have to set rules. I love reading into art. Some people don’t understand that abstract art is something that can be admired. It’s not just a splash of paint, it is art. Bosnia is a very beautiful country and I believe this art style kind of blends with that environment,” she explained.
The Bosnian citizens she was in touch with at the memorial that year sent Sajla several videos of the event. Therefore, she was able to see Srebrenica, how the memorial took place, and their museums. She knew how the environment was, and information on what plants grow and what does not grow in Bosnia as well.
She also explained how she listened to podcasts and vlogs and got in touch with forensic specialist, Robert McNeil who is an artist himself.
There are different types of grief that are portrayed in this book. One is grief where there is uncertainty, another is the grief without closure, and another is grief surrounding the loss of a child.
“Sometimes people tend to undermine pain that comes with stillbirth. People would say that they still have other chances and can still have another child. But people don’t realise how long it can live within you,” said Sajla.
“I wanted to bring out this deep grief and the fact that it takes time to heal. You can’t just snap out of it and people have different coping mechanisms. It’s also about accepting people’s personalities for what they are. I wanted to make sure that all my characters have flaws and aren’t perfect.”
Sajla started writing this in November 2020 but then got really busy with work and personal commitments. She also has a habit of underwriting so she would write a couple of chapters just to go back and keep editing. The delay, however, proved to be timely for the book release since 2025 was the 30th year of the genocide.
“I had some emotional struggles as well because I feel for people so much. When I do research, and listen to podcasts it sometimes takes up a lot of mental space. I would feel down and cry and it would paralyse me. But I had to keep doing the research despite how I felt. But I think that’s also a gift because when I feel sad, I write better,” noted Sajla.
As for the cover, finding an abstract artist was challenging for the author. She recalled getting a random suggestion for Roshenka Philip’s ‘Rekhava studio’ on social media one day. She knew Roshenka from school as she was one year senior to her.
Really good
“The timing was really good. After I checked her artwork and reached out to her, I decided to give the cover art to her. She showed a lot of enthusiasm and asked me very specific questions such as “Do you want the painting to be static or do you want it to flow?” and I knew that these were coming from a good artist,” Sajla recalled.
“She did an amazing job and the cover draws you to the book.”
The friendships forged throughout the research and getting to know another’s culture was something that the author mentioned she would treasure forever. Her book is also a place of memory and preservation for things that are important to her.
She has mentioned a black cat with a bushy tail in the background in one of the chapters which is a simple way of preserving the combined memory of her own pet cats. All of these tiny details made the entire process of this book deeply meaningful for her.
Sajla highlighted how not everybody has to write about the same subject simply because everybody has different skills.
“Maybe you are meant to do comedy and make people laugh, maybe horror or mystery and give people adventures or any kind of distraction in this busy world. The one thing I believe that matters most for writers is to keep going once they find inspiration. It’s also okay to not force your writing if the inspiration is taking time,” Sajla said.
She explained how it depends on their motives as well. Are you writing to heal? Are you writing because it’s therapeutic? Are you writing to create awareness? Or are you writing for joy? Whatever it is, she said that what you’re writing is worth it and can definitely leave an impact in this world.
