Q&A with author Christine Estima

From her debut novel to how authors need, "drive, ambition, and a fuck ton of patience."

If you pay any attention to Canada’s literary scene, you have likely seen news of Christine Estima’s first book. No, that’s not right. Her fourth book, as she will explain. But it’s her first big break — a book published by House of Anansi Press, that has made best-of lists and received a swath of accolades. The book, The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society, is a collection of short stories that are interconnected. She explains how below.

Christine is an author, freelance writer, and Spoken Word artist who has been published in lots of places (The New York Times, The Walrus, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Vice, Chatelaine, to name a few).

NL: Hi! Welcome! Tell us about the project.

My debut book THE SYRIAN LADIES BENEVOLENT SOCIETY, published by House of Anansi Press, is a collection of interconnected stories that follows one family as they leave the Middle East in the 19th century, settle in Montreal in the 20th, and tracks their ancestors all the way to the 21st century. The stories are concerned with Arab women’s voices, and pushing people's preconceived notions about Arab women beyond conventions and borders. There are women who are WWII spies, women who are Syrian refugees, women who are Lebanese freedom fighters, but also just regular women trying to explore their sexuality when years of tradition collide with modernity. CBC named it one of the Best Books of 2023, and we've been getting a lot of great press and reviews, so I'm super excited about what the future holds for this book!

What was the moment where you realized you had a short story collection?

My body of work has almost always dealt with the Arab woman's experience. The first short stories I ever sold back in 2005 dealt with this, and it was during the pandemic that I realized this ethos was an excellent through-line for a collection. So while five of the stories that appear in the collection were previously published, the rest were crafted after I had decided to fashion the collection.

The main impetus for writing the collection came in 2019 after Don Cherry made those infamous comments about "you people" not wearing the poppy, which is a racist dog whistle. It felt like a gut punch to me because my Jido (grandfather in Arabic) was one of the few Arabs in the Canadian army during the Second World War and he fought in the infamous bloody battle of Ortona. So I tweeted at Don Cherry about this when his comments hit the headlines, and suddenly I was interviewed on CTV News Network and CJAD 800 and CityNews about my Jido and I realized that people actually don't know that we've been in this country for centuries and we have shaped the fabric of Canada. When I sold a non-fiction piece about my family to Maisonneuve Magazine, I found myself doing a 20-minute indepth interview on CBC Radio. That's when I realized that there was an appetite for these stories. So I just applied it.

In The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society, do you have a particular story that you're most proud of? Or is that like asking a parent which child they love most?

I do actually.

The story I most proud of isn’t chosen because from a narrative, storytelling or a creative point of view, but more of a personal point of view because it is directly related to the advancement of my career and also how I got this book deal in the first place. There’s a story in the collection called “your hands are blessed.” I originally sold that story to a literary magazine, called Prairie fire in 2021. Later it was chosen for the Best Canadian Stories 2023 anthology. While I was working on the manuscript for this short story collection, and I had sent the second draft to my agent, I got an email from the person who would soon become my editor, saying she had read the short story in Prairie fire, and she loved it. She asked me if I had a manuscript. And it of course I was like “it just so happens that I do!“ And it was those interactions with her and selling that story to the magazine at the time that I did that allowed this book deal even came about. So that story holds an extra special place in my heart. Sometimes it’s not just about writing the story, it’s also about how the story, once out there, takes you to new and surprising places.

Who do you imagine is the kind of person will love this book most?

Basically anyone who feels like they’ve been put in a box and not allowed to be a nuanced complicated person with many interests and many flaws. For anyone who messes up and makes poor choices but still needs us to root for them because they’re so close to figuring it out. For anyone who is going through a baptism by fire. And for anyone who wouldn’t have it any other way.

I love that. Because I know that at this point in the book writing and release world you are likely already working on something next. Can you tell us about your next project? Or are you still in a superstitious place about whatever it might be?

Well, I can cheerfully announce that House of Anansi Press has already acquired my next book! The deal was announced in October, and I just signed the contract last week!

My next novel will tell the story of the great love of Franz Kafka‘s life. Her name was Milena Jesenská and she was the very first person, male or female, to ever translate Kafka‘s work. Even though Kafka was from Prague, he only wrote in German. Milena was also from Prague, and so she translated his work into Czech so that his own people could read him. And it was in writing to him to ask permission to translate that they struck up an epistolary love affair.

It’s known that they met up twice for two lovers’ trysts, but we don’t know what happened during those trysts. After he died, his letters to her were published in a very famous book called Letters to Milena, but her letters to him were never found. She was instrumental in fighting the rise of fascism in Europe, hiding Jews and dissidents in her home, helping them escape over the border, and writing for banned publications. She was arrested by the Gestapo in 1939 and died in Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1944 mere weeks before it was liberated by the Soviets. So my book is written from Milena’s POV and imagines what her letters to Kafka might have said and also imagines what might have happened during those two trysts. It’s called LETTERS TO KAFKA and should be on the shelves in Fall 2025!

Wow! Ok, I look forward to that. Any parting shots?

I’ve faced a lot of rejection as an author and writer. THE SYRIAN LADIES BENEVOLENT SOCIETY is technically my fourth book, not my first, it’s just the first to be published. So I’d like to remind all the rejected and struggling authors out there that you can’t let rejection hold you back. Let it propel you forward. Let is be a reminder of how many motherfuckers you have to prove wrong.

That's such an important point. Can I ask -- and maybe this is a ridiculously big question -- but how did you keep going past those rejections?

You know, sometimes I don’t know how I did it. When 40 different publishers across North America reject your manuscript after manuscript, you can definitely shut down.

I remember sobbing and wondering if this was truly meant for me. But I allowed myself to have my pity party and then pulled myself the fuck together. It’s was all guts and guile. I reminded myself that my voice and talent deserved an audience, so I just didn’t rest in my laurels. I said, “you know what? You can try and take my pride. You can try and take my dignity. You’ll never take my career. You’ll never take my dreams.” So I guess I remembered that talent alone isn’t enough. You need drive, ambition, and a fuck ton of patience.