Snehika Srivastava has quite a jaw-dropping resumé for a fourteen-year-old. She has written Op-Eds and conducted interviews for local newspapers, written a review, along with her twin brother Sachit, for bazaar’s 2018 Dining Guide, and boasts a stint at Stanford University for a residential summer course in Creative Writing. Also, lest we forget, she exhibited her humanitarian side by sending out an email last year for Kuwaiti inhabitants to take part in a global initiative known as Good Deeds Day to spread good deeds in our community. Many members of our community responded to her call by donating clothes and toys and distributing them.  

And now, Snehika has published her debut collection of poetry titled (in)sight, to boot, which was reviewed by Dr. Shurooq Amin, a renowned local artist and poet, who wrote that Snehika’s poems “… Bring to mind a young e.e. cummings.” That is quite the compliment! It is an honor to feature her in this month’s issue. Here’s to more from this young lady!

(All her responses were deliberately not capitalized to reflect her stylistic choice in the book itself. Read on to find out why.)

A poetry collection at the age of fourteen! That is quite an achievement. How did you decide to take the plunge and share your work?

if I am being completely honest, this decision took me almost a year, not because i was unsure of taking the plunge, but because i was unsure whether i was ready to uncover some of my deepest thoughts. 

throughout this deliberation, i had always kept with me my goal with this book, which was to evoke an emotion in my readers (all emotions welcomed!) – by introducing a stream of thinking in their minds and giving them an opportunity to connect with their inner selves. this aim was of far more value to me than any doubts i had, and so without second thoughts, i decided to take the plunge and (in)sight was ready!

The poems in your book are philosophical, poignant, and profound. Where does all this insight come from? 

this insight comes from thoughts i have had and emotions i have felt. These thoughts have gone through a grinding process of being made concise, much more concise than what goes on in my head. i try to present them in a way which reflects my thought process in the most transparent way possible, but some mysteries are for the readers to uncover themselves because what is life without a few challenges? 

“Sometimes, when the tiffany glow in the sky mixes with the vermillion rays like vivid colors on a palette I think they do get along…” This is an excerpt from one of your poems—the blurry painting of life. Such powerful imagery and exquisite diction, evoking emotions that run deep beneath the surface of one’s psyche. And the words in your poems are not capitalized, neither are the titles. Is this stylistic or are you trying to convey a message?

every word in my poem is not capitalized. this started off by having the capitalization option turned off in my writing application, and my writing flow prevented me from making any changes at the time. but while editing the book, i had the choice of capitalizing the proper nouns and the beginning of each sentence. however, i decided against that. as mentioned previously, i wanted this book to be as transparent and similar to my actual thought process as possible and changing the capitalization would mean altering the original output of the thought. so i chose to stay true to the originality of the poems and go full steam ahead – without any capital letters of course!

Do you write the poems or do they write themselves?  

i’ve always been fond of hunting for words and fragile emotions that rest in my soul, and what flows inside me can hardly be described as a serene waterfall: it’s powerful. this sense of letting my thoughts out into the world in an elegant manner almost overpowers me, and behold! the poems are written. and so, the poems indeed write themselves; my mind is just the pen.

Finally, you are now in a position to galvanize your peers to pursue creative channels. Is there a way you are going to go about this?

it would mean the absolute world to me if my words or actions could galvanize, encourage, and inspire my peers, and anyone reading this, to seek the creativity within them. 

please write that book, sing that song, dance to that rhythm and choose to express yourselves in every single way possible; i urge you to do so. 

you are not just an ‘artist’ or a ‘star-student’; you have the wings to fly away from labels plastered upon you. creative expression will free you and bring to you unparalleled happiness. this world needs young creative minds to unfold and express themselves, away from technology that consumes us. 

trust me when i say your older self will look back on this decision and thank you for giving them an (in)sight into the personality development that has taken place in you. i can’t wait to see what my peers, and you dear reader, bring out into the world. 

and so i ask you, what is your (in)sight?

For more on Nejoud Al Yagout, check out @coexistkuwait on Instagram.