“Writing about racism requires a directness that writing a love story does not.” Quote by Vivek Shraya
“I don't yet know what style will be required for my next novel, but my sense is that each book will involve a new relationship to language.” KnowsBookNextLanguageNovelStyleNew Relationship Author:Vivek Shraya
“I tend to focus less on genre as a starting point and more on idea or intention and let the idea dictate genre.” IdeasFocusIntentionStartingGenreStarting Point Author:Vivek Shraya
“I couldn't write about love without writing about hate - specifically, how the experience of hatred embeds itself in the body and prevents love from entering or leaving.” WritingBodyHateHatredLeavingEntering Author:Vivek Shraya
“I am always hesitant to call myself an activist, mostly out of respect for the activists who are using their bodies and voices to protest or activists online who are constantly engaging and educating others.” BodyVoiceProtestOnlineActivistEngagingHesitantEducating Others Author:Vivek Shraya
“As much as I believe in the capacity for art to create change, and as much as being an artist is physically and emotionally challenging, there is ultimately something a bit comfortable about making art in the comfort of your own home.” BelieveArtHomeArtistI BelieveBitsChallengesComfortComfortableCapacityI Believe InBeing An Artist Author:Vivek Shraya
“I do use art as a site of protest, particularly in relation to dominant narratives.” ArtUseRelationNarrativeProtestSiteDominant Author:Vivek Shraya
“Generally, I start by observing the existing and popular narratives in my social spheres and media, and the pressures I face in my own life experiences. As someone who is "newly" trans, I am constantly thinking about what the dominant narratives are around transness, how my work can push against these narratives, and how it already falls into these traps.” ThinkingFacesFallSocialMy OwnMediaPressureNarrativeSpheresLife ExperienceTrapsDominantObservingTransMy Own LifeConstantly Thinking Author:Vivek Shraya
“Of course, I can't separate my queerness from my brownness - if anything, my queerness amplifies my brownness, and vice versa - but I spent so much of my early twenties trying to erase my differences, often without awareness of what I was doing.” IfsTryingI CanCoursesDifferencesAwarenessTwentiesVicesEraseVice VersaAmplify Author:Vivek Shraya
“When I wouldn't leave home without my blue contacts or when I was bleaching my hair, I didn't have the language to articulate that I was trying to assimilate to whiteness. If anything, I was trying to "look normal."” IfsTryingLooksHomeLanguageHairNormalBlueContactWhitenessBleaching Author:Vivek Shraya
“In my thirties, I have felt a greater urgency to make art that highlights what it feels like to be racialized, likely due to living in a country that obscures our racism with the idea of "multiculturalism."” FeelsArtIdeasCountryFeltGreaterRacismDuesMulticulturalismUrgencyHighlights Author:Vivek Shraya