Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath

In this latest episode of Biographers in Conversation, S. Shakthidharan (Shakthi) chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about his choices while crafting *Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath.* Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: - *Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath* centres on the family home Shakthi’s grandmother dismantled piece by piece in Sri Lanka and rebuilt in Western Sydney as an act of willpower amid civil war. - Shakthi personifies his family’s home as a living presence capable of being both suffocating and liberating, reflecting the complexity of migrant obligation and belonging. - Shakthi began writing *Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath* after realising, during the hardest period of his life juggling young children and a dying father, that he was experiencing genuine belonging inside a family for the first time at age 40. - The title *Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath* comes from Shakthi’s Hindu wedding ceremony, when facing his gathered community instead of his bride revealed a profound truth about love and connection. - Each chapter is addressed directly to a key figure in Shakthi’s life, including his mother, partner, father and sons. This creates an intimate space between the first and second person. - Shakthi shared early drafts of the manuscript with his mother, partner and uncle, incorporating their responses into what ultimately appeared in their respective chapters. - The memoir closes with Shakthi’s two sons playing on the same porch his great-grandfather once sat on in Sri Lanka. The children were steering an imaginary ship, a symbol of hope and continuity passed to the next generation.