Additional information
by Pujita Verma (Author)
"precedent can be rewritten, and you never had to do it alone."
Grounded in a recent legal case that crosses borders, Precedence offers an intimate and stunningly poised insight into a young woman's experience leaving home and facing her father in a Canadian courtroom. Pujita Verma's tender, hopeful voice exposes the shortcomings of the international legal infrastructure in providing recourse to survivors of childhood sexual abuse, while honoring the generations of women who have protected and taught her, and whose sacrifices ultimately put her in the position to speak out publicly. What precedents, Verma asks--legal, personal, cultural--do we rewrite for ourselves and others each time we act? What does it look like to know romantic love, and come of age, after coming forward?
Author Biography
Pujita Verma is a poet and illustrator currently living in London, Ontario. Her work has appeared across the Toronto Transit Commission Network and CBC's The National. She won awards from the League of Canadian Poets, the Toronto Arts & Letters Club Foundation, and the Eden Mills Writer's Festival, and was runner-up for the Janice Colbert Poetry Award. Pujita was Mississauga's Youth Poet Laureate from 2018-2020, and she studied Political Science at Western University. As an active member of London's literary scene, Pujita is currently serving on the committee for Antler River Poetry.
