A literary portfolio
Subhas C. Maharaj — Rosetown, Saskatchewan, Canada
Subhas escaped from apartheid South Africa where the clash of cultures
continued the inhumanity of man.
His experience in Canada is the bitter-sweet song of human frailty.
About the Author
Life offers many chances and if taken they are opportunities for new visions and horizons, and for expanded ventures. Subhas left South Africa where the clash of cultures continued the history of man, and where race and skin colour were limits to aspirations. It was a chance accompaniment that introduced him to theatre and acting, although he did have a very distinct voice quality.
Subhas completed his under-graduate studies in South Africa and a Diploma in Speech Therapy through Trinity College, London. He acted in Golden Boy and many productions at University. He produced and directed Waiting for Godot when he was 21 years old and was demonized by the white theatre professionals and other intellectuals. He was best known for the productions of Black on White I and II, satirizing the socio-political-economic conditions of the apartheid system. This exposure attracted the attention of the citizens and the Government of South Africa.
Through his writings and productions he met Fatima Meer and was in the final process of editing her book A Portrait of South African Indians, and had completed writing the first half of A Pageant on the Life of Mahatma Gandhi with Alan Paton — South Africa’s international writer of Cry the Beloved Country — when he was forced to leave in 1969.
“Subhas you have to leave. They’ve got you.” — Fatima Meer, on his listing by the Bureau of State Security (BOSS)
He had 10 days to leave South Africa and did not have a visa to Canada. That was the chance and he had to take it. He was interrogated at the airport in London with the threat of deportation back to South Africa — his tenacity prevailed. He was eventually welcomed as a landed immigrant in Regina, Saskatchewan, beginning his Canadian life with $1.40 in his pocket.
He designed and developed the Pictogram Symbols Program, a visual communication strategy used internationally. The initial Pictogram Kit was published by the George Reed Foundation, Regina, Saskatchewan, with royalties donated to the Foundation to advance workshops and seminars for nonverbal persons. Sweden was the first country to adopt the Pictogram Symbols and has since translated them into 23 languages. Japan established a Pictogram Association (J-PIC), and in 2016 the fundamentals were accepted by the International Standards Organization (ISO) for communication boards. Subhas has conducted workshops in Canada, the US, Sweden, England, Germany, Romania, Japan and Vietnam.
He has written The Dignity of Symbols and Pictogram Symbols: For All Ages. Both books and over 2,500 symbols are available free at www.pictoworld.com. He has served as Councillor and Mayor of Rosetown, Saskatchewan, on two occasions.
Fiction
Book I — 2014
A satiric story that focuses on Zalador, the King of his Pride, and his quest to secure a place on the Supreme Council. He finds Malcolm, a monkey school teacher, who wants to spend a day as a human-people. Malcolm is taken to the Kingdom of Ruain and is immediately viewed as a contender to the throne.
Published by FriesenPress, 2014
DownloadBook II — 2019
Zalador is given a second chance to assist a young lion, the Major, in finding a wish-partner. Two lions compete for a single position on the Supreme Council — this becomes THE CHALLENGE. A surfer on Paradise Island is infatuated with Zalador’s wish-partner, leading to tragedy and triumph.
Published by FriesenPress, 2019
DownloadBook III — 2021
Zalador leaves the Supreme Council to assist the Urban Lion, the Major, risking his own place among the Councillors. The Major assumes the role of a human while Zalador must pretend to be a dog. Their legacy is the Open-Door Policy — allowing all lions and lionesses into the Galactic Assembly.
Published by FriesenPress, 2021
DownloadDocumentary Novel — 2016
A Humorous, Contemplative, Sad & Imaginative Tale of Two Boys
Set in a South African backdrop, this documentary-novel constructs the life and death of a promising young man. The fictionalized story is told through the recollections of those who knew Ravi; his lessons about life and death, education and politics, enmeshed with his close friendship with Sunny and the Dusty Road Boys.
Part I follows the childhood escapades of the two friends. Part II exposes Ravi’s sheltered life when he meets Daniel, who is killed in an accident. Part III shows a community that coalesces to nurture Ravi’s abilities — but life has its own destination.
“The story of their lives and a community’s hopes & aspirations on the promise and success of a young man.”
Published by FriesenPress, 2016
DownloadShort Story Collection — 2024
An eclectic collection of situations, responses and consequences
The stories range from twisted emotions to tenderness; from greed to brutality; from ascendency to failure; from loneliness to death. Stories like Silent Energy, Planted Trees, The Final Shot and A Desired End capture fragments of the turbulent times in Apartheid South Africa.
Each story encapsulates the circumstances that define and change human behaviour, told across different time-lines and platforms, fictionalized as Man’s Inhumanity to Man.
“The portrayals of the characters are confident and uncompromising but the outcomes touch the sadness of life.”
Published by FriesenPress, 2024
DownloadVisual Communication
Pictograms provide the communication linkage throughout the life-span of the individual and attain the sophistication for dignity, the appropriateness for maturity, and the depth for interaction.
In the fall of 1976, it was a chance recognition by Subhas’s 4-year-old son, Bash, with regards to road signs and symbols that led to the concept of constructively developing symbols for communication and interaction for nonverbal individuals and individuals limited in oral communication.
The word Pictogram was coined from two concepts — Picto for the drawing and gram expressed as the message from the word Telegram. The symbols were created as white on solid black backgrounds: white refracts light for maximum exposure, while the black background eliminates figure-ground confusion. The symbols had to be clear, bold, graphic, and sensitive to the dignity of the user.
The initial Pictogram Kit was published by the George Reed Foundation, Regina, Saskatchewan, with royalties donated to the Foundation to advance workshops and seminars. Sweden was the first country to adopt and expand the Pictogram Symbols, translating them into 23 languages. Japan established the J-PIC Pictogram Association, conducting scientific projects and animating action symbols. In 2016, the International Standards Organization (ISO) accepted the fundamentals of Pictogram Symbols for communication boards.
Subhas has conducted workshops in Canada, the US, Sweden, England, Germany, Romania, Japan, and Vietnam. He has written The Dignity of Symbols and Pictogram Symbols: For All Ages. Both books and over 2,500 symbols are available free on his website.
Visit www.pictoworld.comCountries
Canada · United States
Sweden · England
Germany · Romania
Japan · Vietnam
Languages
23 languages (via Sweden)
ISO Recognized
2026 — International Standards Organization
Free Symbols
2,500+ available at pictoworld.com
Short Stories
An eclectic collection of short stories spanning apartheid South Africa to the contemporary world. Each story encapsulates the circumstances that define and change human behaviour.
Opening — Silent Energy
“How much longer Dad? Is it still far? We’ve been walking for a long time.”
Leonard was fourteen-years old and well-built for his age. He had his father’s genetics,
a leather exterior to handle the blows of human gratitude and affection…
Leonard’s giving, when he had so little to give, becomes the spirit of human charity.
FriesenPress, 2024
Poetry
Three collections spanning five decades — from the anguish of apartheid to the satiric eye turned on the presumptions of modern humanity.
Collection I
1972 — No longer in publication
Published shortly after Subhas arrived in Canada, this collection contains themes of racism and the rigid policies of apartheid. The young mind reveals despair and frustration against the brutality of the ruling settlers.
they fought the whiteman
who had taken their land
now they fight the whiteman
who has possessed their lives
Includes skin colour (a passionate plea to end racism), black dog (on the lives of Black South Africans under white law), prairie land (witnessing the Canadian prairies transform), and virgo (romance amidst turbulence).
Collection II
McNally Robinson, Saskatoon — 2019
A composition of life caught in the complexity of violence and death, tenderness and affection. Song of an Exile opens with a struggle to break from the past — a tribute to his wife, Mona.
You cannot draw me; out of years of confinement;
and solitary meanderings.
I have come not in abandonment or fury
to lose my time and discard me.
I have come to feel the future freely.
Includes Madonna (a mother comforting her unborn child), Live-on (contemplating the future), Doomed, and the final poem africa — a robust vision of Africa with a sad remembrance.
Collection III
2025
A satiric-poetic commentary on human presumptions and interactions with people, animals, and the earth. The poems range from insensitivity towards life and death to the alienation of individuals for linguistic and ideological differences.
Oh! You Human
Hear my cry in my dying mind
as you drive past my ghostly shape
Why have I been lost to an open sky
with tattered clothes and an unkempt face?
Includes Peace Maker, Kill the Deer, My Dear, My Body, My Choice (on vaccinations), Homeless, Drones, and Mind Design.
Drama
Subhas has written three unpublished plays. His one-act play, Bus Ride, was produced by the Drama Department at Minot State University, North Dakota, and presented at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His first play, No End, was a trade for his first position as a Speech Therapist in Canada.
Unpublished Play
Unpublished
An encounter between a prostitute, Risa, and a paraplegic in an electric wheelchair, Davy. The conversation flows between Davy’s dysarthric speech and his communication device. Davy’s world is confined to his apartment; he reaches out to the world through a pair of binoculars. The tension of the encounter subsides but the second half of the play leads to Risa committing suicide and Davy left in despair.
DownloadUnpublished Play
Unpublished
A focus on a moment of compassion in a conflict zone that leads to the death and destruction of a family. The eldest son, editor of a local newspaper, has been brutalized by the political and security system. The youngest son innocently assists an opposition leader — the family is drawn into direct confrontation with the security police. In the final scene the matriarch stands before a barricade in defiance of the regime and is gunned down. The audience is left to judge the power of violence and the question of justice.
DownloadUnpublished Play
Unpublished
“Voices” expresses the struggle to survive — a universal cry and the flow of life of the ‘untouchables’. The voices are the voices of history — the living and the dead. There is no single identifiable actor but a chorus, each assuming a voice through slight changes: a mask, a change of clothing, a hat or a shawl. Voices that will reverberate forever… until the humanity of man restores the humanity of man.
DownloadOne-Act Play — 1973
Presented at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (University of Minot, ND, Drama Department), 1973
A short encounter on a bus between a crusty passenger and an eager conversationalist. The conversationalist raises many topics to pass the journey but the passenger is disinterested in maintaining the interaction.
DownloadFirst Canadian Play — 1969
First play written in Canada
Idle interactions and absurdity — no theme, no drama, no substance; but the continuation of time and the need to establish some identity through insipid questions and absurd responses. No end expresses what life is when purpose is lost and time is merely a passage to no end. This was the first play written in Canada (1969) and was instrumental in Subhas staying in Canada. “Write me a play and I’ll find you a job” led to his first job in Canada as a Speech Consultant.
DownloadLives & Spaces
Subhas has chronicled his young days in South Africa and the many encounters in Canada in A Life of Chances — a biographical narrative of escape, reinvention, and the enduring power of chance.
“Stars create patterns in imagined minds,
And imagined minds decipher destinies.”
Forced to leave South Africa with six days’ notice in 1969, Subhas was interrogated at the airport in London and threatened with deportation back to South Africa. His tenacity prevailed. He was given a 30-day visitor’s visa to London, then flew to Toronto where he received the same ‘backroom conference’ — less harrowing, but still uncertain.
He had 10 days remaining on his permit when he was welcomed as a landed immigrant in Regina, Saskatchewan — beginning his Canadian life with $1.40 in his pocket.
The narrative spans his theatrical career in South Africa (producing Waiting for Godot at age 21, Black on White I & II), his collaboration with Alan Paton and Fatima Meer, and his reinvention in Canada as a speech therapist, pictogram designer, author, and mayor.
From Chapter 1 — The Image
“I should never have survived a long life. I should never had wriggled my way out of the mental dungeon of South Africa challenging the dark chasm of restlessness and the loneliness of being alone. I raised my eyes to the stars for comfort and asked, Was it a path that was engraved in my destiny to be saved from human torture? Was there a purpose or just a tanned face in the sun to be trampled under the boots of indifference?”
A Life of Chances, 2026
Community & Mission
In 2018, Subhas began providing vitamins to children whose families access the Food Bank in Rosetown, Saskatchewan. OurHopeInAction is a service dedicated to providing children with the basis of education and good health — a dedication to the future well-being of community and society as a whole.
Get in Touch
For inquiries about translations, publishing, performances, or rights to any of Subhas C. Maharaj’s works, please get in touch by email.
The Pictogram Symbols and PictoSho are registered in Ottawa, Canada, and protected internationally through the Berne Copyright Agreements. No part of any work may be copied or reproduced without permission.
Copyrights:
Pictogram Ideogram Communication © 1980 Subhas C. Maharaj
PictoSho © 2002 Subhas C. Maharaj
PictoSho <the Book> © 2025 Subhas C. Maharaj