"In my thirties, perhaps around the age of 35 or 36, I knew that I would one day write a book. A book about being terrorized as a young boy who experienced a brutal civil war in Sri Lanka and then transformed in Canada in his late teens and early twenties. I wanted to tell the world this survival story. A Tamil boy’s survival story."

"The goals for this book include initiating conversations around mental health with kids, and hopefully reducing frustrations and power struggles families might have around navigating powerful emotions. In addition, my vision for diverse representation was implemented so I hope all readers can feel even more connected to the book."

"I wrote this story because I wanted to interrogate what it means to be Australian and who gets to decide this. Australian stories are stories written by Australians. I’m Australian and this particular story explores the lives and voices of people on the margins of that definition, but whose lives and voices are no less important than others."

"Failure. I feel like it’s a very shallow, yet heavy word. I think for a little while I felt like a failure in the eyes of a few people in my life, but I knew I was doing what was best for me."