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Praise
About the Author

We Saw Mountains gathers nine stories of human and non-human daring, where quotidian life is cracked open to possibilities of autonomy and re-imagination. A teen’s part-time job tests his integrity, a grieving elephant finds a new home by way of a contested river, and on an island a mountain appears, fully formed.

Through these visionary tales, Diana Rahim—whose stories have been featured in Best New Singaporean Short Stories and The Best of World SF—asks, can we do things differently? Can we imagine a different kind of life?

Step into this spellbinding collection and witness transformations both cosmic and everyday. Journey from the desert to the oasis, from drought to bloom, and return to our world with a rekindled faith in the possibility of becoming.
“Diana Rahim’s We Saw Mountains is a stunning collection of short stories that resonate with remarkable warmth, clarity and wisdom. These fictions tell of watermelon and rain tree seeds, stolen sneakers, tudungs, reforestation and dead cats, rebellious shadows and distant shores, alienation, trauma processing, secrets, jellyfish dreams, mystic mountains and elephants. Above all these stories speak of change and possibility in troubled times. These narratives, filled with allegory and fable, challenge the petty cruelties and unfairness of the established order. In unadorned, yet captivating prose, Diana prioritises creativity, fairness and individuality over the smallness and narrow- mindedness of contemporary life. Hope and joy, and courage and creativity, shine through in this exciting new collection from one of Singapore’s leading writers.”
—Jon Gresham, writer and photographer, and author of Gus: The Life and Opinions of the Last Raffles’ Banded Langur

“Diana’s stories are not just stories that present slices of life, but thought-provoking parables that excavate truth in the absurdities that we believe, have come to believe and have been made to believe. Moving us towards what I can only think of as an unravelling–the most necessary state of learning.”
—Nuraliah Norasid, award-winning author of The Gatekeeper

“Tenderness. That was the word and overwhelming feeling that stayed with me as I read Diana Rahim’s We Saw Mountains. I appreciated the tenderness characters showed each other, themselves and the world, and when they were lacking in it, I felt a great tenderness for all of them. This new collection of short stories made me weep and left me brimming with a courageous yet simple choice to hope. It reminds me of what is always true–stories are absolutely necessary, hope is our only choice, and love and care for others (human or not), no matter how inconvenient, is worth it. These are the non-negotiable ingredients for making a better world, and this book provides young hopefuls fuel, and battle-hardened dreamers and activists a new spark to rekindle the flame to sustain the long journey towards change. I hope this collection also reminds readers to practise tenderness with themselves.”
—Ameera Aslam, bestselling author, poet and activist

“Tenderly narrated yet fierce in spirit, the stories in We Saw Mountains take us into gritty everyday situations as well as shimmering speculative worlds. Diana Rahim raises urgent, provocative questions about how we might choose to live ethically and meaningfully despite tragedy, unjust circumstances, casual brutality or political intrusions. This collection is a stirring read–bold, imaginative and suffused with hope and care.”
—Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, author of Names Have Been Changed and editor of How We Live Now
Diana Rahim is a writer and visual artist whose work circles around the themes of gender justice, the experience of the environment and the politics of public space. Her visual work has been exhibited in National Gallery Singapore and Museum of Modern Art Saitama, Japan. She is also part of Beyond the Hijab, a collective sharing critical perspectives, personal stories and research on Muslim women in Singapore. We Saw Mountains is her first book.

Authors

We Saw Mountains