Rajinderpal S. Pal was born in Punjab, India and grew up in London, England. He lived in Calgary, Alberta, from 1980-fall 2004 when he relocated to Vancouver and more recently to Toronto. Pal obtained a B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of Calgary and has worked in laboratory research and medical sales. Pal is also a stage performer.
Poetry
Pappaji Wrote Poetry in a Language I Cannot Read: Poems
Toronto: TSAR, 1998.
PS8581 .A44 P36 1998
Publisher’s Synopsis
The poems in this book form a narrative whole that leaps between past and present, between childhood and adulthood, and between languages. Issues of cross-cultural politics and relationships are addressed, and loss across generations and migrations across continents. All of this is entwined with the search for the poet-father and the attempt to come to terms with the past.
Awards and Honours
1999 Henry Kreisel Award for Best First Book-Alberta Literary Awards (Writers’ Guild of Alberta)(Winner)
Poetry
Pulse: Poems
Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002.
PS8581 .A44 P84 2002
Publisher’s Synopsis
Pulse is a collection of love poems, about the sharing of stories and the sharing of our discovered selves; about those moments in our lives that we cling to, then draw upon as we “strive for fabric and texture” in our lives. With echoes of Ondaatje and Wah, Pal’s magical, ringing voice sings intimate. These are sensual poems; explorations of “the pulse in fingertips.” Pulse is a mature, sophisticated collection from one of our truest poets.
Awards and Honours
2002 Stephan G. Stephannson Award for Poetry-Alberta Literary Awards (Writers’ Guild of Alberta)(Finalist)
2003 City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize (Shortlisted)
Fiction
However Far Away: A Novel
Toronto: House of Anansi Press 2024.
forthcoming Aug. 2024
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
On the morning of his nephew’s wedding, Devinder Gill is certain the delicate balance of his life will not be upset. Dev is married to Kuldip, and together they have two young children in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood. But Dev also has a secret: an affair with his first love, an Irish Canadian woman named Emily Rice, who recently returned to Canada after nine years abroad. Today, both women will attend the wedding.
As the day progresses through the traditional Sikh marriage rituals, the circumstances that led to this precarious situation are revealed through the alternating perspectives of Devinder, Emily, and Kuldip. Dev fails to recognize the building threats—an unwelcome guest, a wandering daughter, a repentant father—and by day’s end must accept that he does not have the control over his life that he imagined. Will the balance be maintained, or will the fragile house of cards come tumbling down?
Anthology
First Chapter: The Canadian Writers Photography Project
Denton, Don, and Rajinderpal S. Pal. “Rajinderpal S. Pal.” In Denton, Don. First Chapter: The Canadian Writers Photography Project. Banff, AB: Banff Centre Press, 2001, 72-73.
Links
Publisher Arsenal Pulp Press
Publisher House of Anansi
Publisher Mawenzi House, formerly TSAR
Interview with Larissa Lai conducted in 1999 from the Writers for Change website