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I especially worry about the ways Canadians can be glib about our supposed difference from the US in our acceptance of diversity.

Vivek Shraya

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Vivek Shraya
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More quotes by Vivek Shraya

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Children's books have great potential to reveal new possibilities to readers, because the intended audience is at an age of genuine learning.
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Music is my first love, where my artistic journey began.
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In poetry, I didn't have to provide resolution. I could ask hard questions without feeling responsible for the answers.
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I am more likely to get paid for my art if it's presented alongside a white artist, so the questions around value and agency arise: What choices should I make, or do I have to make, if I want to be compensated for my work? Why isn't my art valued on its own?
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When I was writing, I wanted every word to be not only deliberate, but musical. Precious.
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Should I be collaborating with artists of color solely because of their race and my politics? This question is weighted with my own worry that I have been invited to speak or collaborate solely because of my race, and not because of my abilities.
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When I do book readings, I always incorporate music or singing.
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My intention was never to write a trans novel - which is perhaps an effective strategy for writing a trans novel.
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As a general rule, I tend to collaborate with artists whose work I admire.
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Children are receptive to talking about gender creativity, confirming the importance of the book as a means to instigate this dialogue at an early age.
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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.
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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.
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I have been and continue to be committed to art as a tool to ignite, comfort, and discomfort.
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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.
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Despite the fact that I'm not highly skilled in any visual art, aesthetics have always played a strong role in my art, including my first albums.
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Now is not the time for Canadians to be sanctimonious. It is time for us to be prudent and active.
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My art career often feels less like an art career and more like a career in educating, usually by using my body.
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I used singing as a safety measure. I would pay attention to what songs the popular girls liked, learn those songs from the radio or library cassettes, and then accidentally sing or hum these songs in class. This would impress the girls, who would then defend me from the boys.
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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.
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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.
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