Katharina Tati Sitaim
FOR Katharina Tati Sitaim, writing has been a lifelong passion and so far, the 53-year-old has published four books and an anthology of poems.
The last book, produced in collaboration with a host of other writers, is titled Kelarai.
She started writing when she was 15. In those days, she wrote what she felt, explaining: “Sometimes, I just wanted to put down a sentence or a paragraph and be done with it.”
She won the best essay writing competition of her school — Sanzac Secondary — in 1973.
In 1995-6 she captured the Sabah Literature Award with her short story Menanti Maut Mengamit Pulang.
The love of written word has been with her since she was in secondary school — SM Sanzac Kota Kinabalu.
She said writing fascinated her because it could convey what she feels in her heart.
“Yes, I can be a bit emotional at times and that is when I write more. As human beings with feelings, we want to speak to another person but not everyone can understand the emotional upheaval we have.
“Such upheaval does not mean huge changes for me but just little things that make me smile or cry,” she added.
When she got older, she kept up her interest in writing “even when dealing with life’s little pitfalls” and went on to author her first book called Mahligai Pasir in the 1990’s.
Roughly translated, Mahligai Pasir means ‘sand castle’ and the book is a collection of poems written about her travels.
Katharina is widely travelled, saying the surroundings during her trips inspired her to write Mahligai Pasir.
She put down her ideas in notebooks first and in her blogs later.
She said reading the notes after a while was very interesting and she thought about publishing them.
In 2008, a friend encouraged her to do so — and she did.
“I wrote the poems according to how I felt about some subjects at that moment. I don’t think I actually modelled them after real people although real situations inspired them. I think most people relate to them due to their universal feel.
“Although I was very happy to see my works published, there is always that feeling I could have done better, so I began writing even more, expressing myself more in that context. The materials are easy, of course, but expressing them can be quite tricky to ensure I don’t repeat myself.”
Not long after, she published her second book titled Sogit, meaning compensation, and though it was a challenge for her, she said it gave her satisfaction because she discovered the depth of her capability.
“The inspiration and my attempt to translate situations in a dramatic form are through situations and people I read and hear about from friends and families. I look at the suffering of others and what led them to that situation and what will they do to get out of the situation,” she explained.
“My next (third) book was Selamat Tinggal Gonsurai. This is an interesting subject and will make most people think about cultures and traditions. Such norms can be a challenge to monotheism or modern belief.
“The book mostly dwells on our cultures and norms for ceremonies during birth, death and weddings, among others. This collection of short stories endeavours to explain the reasons behind the cultural ceremonies and the people’s way of life,” she shared.
The book also touches on taboos among the Kadazandusun community.
“I think this book is important because it deals with taboos and traditional norms which formed part of our people’s way of life in the past. Some of them may be no longer practised or even discussed now — so in a way my book will be helpful to the younger generation.
“In trying to understand my cultures and traditions and to conserve them in story form, I also wrote books for children. There are two at the moment — Si-anak anak and Si Babar dan si Pintar. They deal with moralistic issues for children,” she said.
Katharina is writing full time nowadays although she has a business to manage. Her novels will touch on cultures and traditions and this time, she likes to be more in-depth where life, birth, death and weddings are concerned.
“Love, sacrifices and romance will also be exploited this time,” she revealed.
She is now writing a novel called Meniti Pelangi or Treading the Rainbow and has published some poems in a compilation of poetry called Kelarai with other writers.
Katharina is an example of a tenacious writer who has not given up even though monetary rewards are not really encouraging for local writers like her.