Vivek Shraya's Blog, page 20
August 12, 2016
New review of “even this page is white” – Plenitude Magazine
“The exhaustion of experiencing whiteness sits at the heart of even this page is white. It feels as if Shraya is reluctantly pulled to poetry as a response to whiteness. She engages and dismantles it while conceding that she cannot be fully free of it. There could be a temptation to view Shraya’s collection as solely about racism and whiteness. While engaging with racism and whiteness is the mandate of the collection, it speaks past whiteness to the other land where most of us live. It is a messy and compromised kingdom, but Shraya manages to articulate the beauty and richness of lives that whiteness cannot consume.”
August 5, 2016
July 26, 2016
A Queer Art Canon – Beyoncé’s “Sorry”
Discussing “Sorry” and break up songs as trans anthems on Buddies in Bad Times blog.
July 22, 2016
The Winnipeg Review – New interview
CanLit has a long way to go still in reflecting Canadians, let alone my daily life. I would like to see more Indigenous, Black and writers of colour being published and celebrated. Less straight white male writers, please.
Honoured to be part of this queer roundtable alongside Zoe Whittall, Casey Plett Alec Butler, Marnie Woodrow and Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco.
July 8, 2016
July 4, 2016
Toronto Pride Parade 2016
When I was an seventeen-year-old queer in Edmonton, I didn’t understand why queers needed to have a parade. I didn’t understand why anyone would want to publicly celebrate something that was so reviled. As I march today, I am holding in my heart not only that seventeen year old, but the countless trans and queer people whose battles have resulted in the many privileges I have, and those who still regularly face hatred and violence. Your beauty and resistance inspires me to keep fighting and to keep making art that challenges misogyny and racism.
Romper: L’UOMO STRANO | Makeup: Alanna Chelmick | Hair: Fabio Persico
Too Attached @ Pride TO
July 2, 2016 – Toronto.
July 2, 2016
New review of even this page is white – Vagabond City
It begs a cover-to-cover reading in one revelatory seating. For the brown reader, these poems trigger vigorous nodding and for everyone else, this is a meditation on race and identity that demands accountability.
The Hardest Thing About Being A Writer
Why should people of colour solely have to speak about racism? What happens when the tables are turned and white people are asked to think of their role?
Full conversation with writer Sachiko Murakami here.
