Tāriq Malik is the 4th President of the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop (ACWW) Society. As a poet, writer, and visual artist whose work explores migration, memory, displacement, and belonging, Tāriq’s life and writing are shaped by three wars, two migrations, and two decades in Kuwait. Born in Pakistani Punjab, Malik worked as an industrial chemist before immigrating to Canada in 1995. His books include Rainsongs of Kotli (2004), Chanting Denied Shores (2010), Unmooring the Komagata Maru: Charting Colonial Trajectories (2019), and the poetry collection Exit Wounds, published by Caitlin Press. His latest book of poetry, Blood of Stone (Caitlin Press, 2024), won the 20th annual Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts (SCWES) 2025 BC Book Award for poetry.
A member of The Writers’ Union of Canada, Malik was Writer-in-Residence at Historic Joy Kogawa House in 2023 and currently the Writer-in-Residence at Polyglot Magazine. Drawing inspiration from landscapes, living waters, and the migrant experience, he describes poetry simply as his voice. This story was collected, edited and choreographed by Patara McKeen and Stan de Mello of the PCHC Museum of Migration.