Tāriq Malik

Tāriq Malik has worked across poetry, fiction, and visual arts to distill immersive and compelling narratives that are always original and intriguing. His poetry collection, Exit Wounds, is now available through Caitlin Press.

Born in Pakistani Punjab, Tāriq Malik came reluctantly late to these shores. To get here, he first had to survive three wars, two migrations, and two decades of slaving in the Kuwaiti desert. He firmly believes that his passion for distilling the alchemy of light/chroma/pixel, and his bouts of furious thinking about life and words in general, can all be happily and gainfully combined.

He loves landscapes, bodies of living water large and small, and readers and listeners, and claims he writes so that he has something to read to his tribe on Open Mic Night at the local Poet’s Corner or on the hallowed grounds of public libraries. Tāriq Malik is a proud member of The Polyglot’s monthly Multilingual Art Lab, and he edited Portals, The Polyglot’s ninth issue, along with Ewa Kolacz.

Tāriq Malik is a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada and was writer-in-residence at Joy Kogawa House in July 2023 with support from the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council.