About
Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of music, literature, visual art, theatre, TV, film, and fashion.
A Canadian Screen Award winner, Vivek is the creator and writer of the new CBC Gem Original Series How to Fail as a Popstar, which had its international premiere at Cannes in 2024. She has collaborated with musical icons Jann Arden, Peaches, and Jully Black, and was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize. Her best-selling book I’m Afraid of Men was heralded by Vanity Fair as “cultural rocket fuel,” and she is the founder of the award-winning publishing imprint VS. Books, (featured on CBC’s Canada Reads) which supports emerging BIPOC writers.
Vivek has been a brand ambassador for MAC Cosmetics and Pantene, and she is a director on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation.
vivekshraya.com is the digital archive for a living trans artist of colour, featuring her music, writing, visual art, theatrical, film and television works, from 2002 to present.
Contact
- General inquiries · contact@vivekshraya.com
- Speaking & appearance bookings · National Speakers Bureau
- Brands & partnerships · Sara @ Platform Media
- Music bookings · bookings@vivekshraya.com
- Website administrator · Amy Grace
Awards & Honours
- Official Selection · Cannes International Series Festival · Short Form Competition · How to Fail as a Popstar
- Nominee · Canadian Screen Awards · Best Writing, Web Program or Series · How to Fail as a Popstar
- Nominee · Canadian Screen Awards · Best Web Program or Series, Fiction · How to Fail as a Popstar
- Winner · Canadian Screen Awards · Best Original Music, Comedy · Sort Of Season 2
- Finalist · Alberta Literary Awards · Children’s Literature (Chapter Books) · Revenge of the Raccoons
- Finalist · W.O. Mitchell Book Prize · People Change
- QEII Platinum Jubilee Medal
- Winner · Keychange Inspiration Award · Canada
- Winner · TIGLFF · Jury Award for Best Animation · Reviving The Roost
- Member · College of the Royal Society of Canada
- Finalist · Lambda Literary Awards · Transgender Fiction · The Subtweet
- Nominee · Dublin Literary Award · The Subtweet
- Shortlisted · Stonewall Book Awards · Barbara Gittings Literature Award · The Subtweet
- Longlisted · Toronto Book Awards · The Subtweet
- Finalist · Doug Wright Award · Death Threat
- Finalist · Lambda Literary Awards · LGBT Comics · Death Threat
- Super Queeroes · CBC Arts
- Winner · Healing Through the Arts Award · ATB Financial
- Finalist · Lambda Literary Awards · Transgender Non-fiction · I’m Afraid of Men
- Nominee · Forest of Reading Evergreen Award · Ontario Library Association · I’m Afraid of Men
- Women of the Year · Chatelaine
- Top 40 Under 40 · Avenue Calgary
- Longlisted · Polaris Music Prize · Part-Time Woman
- Canada’s Best Dressed · The Globe and Mail
- Great Canadian Filmmaker of the Future · CBC Arts
- Winner · South Asia Book Award · Highly Commended Book · The Boy & The Bindi
- Winner · Publishing Triangle Award · Trans and Gender-Variant Literature · even this page is white
- Finalist · Digital Publishing Award · “Have You Told Your Parents?”
- Finalist · J.S. Woodsworth Award
- Finalist · Lambda Literary Awards · Transgender Poetry · even this page is white
- Finalist · Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts · Emerging Artist
- Grand Marshal · Pride Toronto
- Honour of Distinction · Dayne Ogilvie Prize · Writer’s Trust of Canada
- Winner · South Asia Book Awards · Honour Book · God Loves Hair
- Finalist · Emerging Artist Award · Toronto Arts Foundation
- Finalist · Bisexual Book Awards · She of the Mountains
- Winner · Most Promising LGBTQ Crusader · Anokhi Media
- Finalist · Lambda Literary Awards · Bisexual Fiction · She of the Mountains
- Winner · Steinert & Ferreiro Award for LGBTQ Leadership
- Winner · George Brown College Achievement Award for Leadership
- Finalist · Lambda Literary Awards · LGBT Anthology · What I LOVE about being QUEER
- Finalist · Lambda Literary Awards · LGBT Children’s/Young Adult · God Loves Hair
- Winner · We Are Listening International Singer/Songwriter Award
- Winner · Futures Fest