Biography

Vivek Shraya is a Toronto-based artist whose body of work includes several albums, films, and books. Her first book of poetry, even this page is white, won a 2017 Publisher Triangle Award and was longlisted for CBC’s Canada Reads. Her debut novel, She of the Mountains, was named one of The Globe and Mail’s Best Books, and her first children’s picture book, The Boy & the Bindi, was featured on the National Post Bestseller List. Vivek has read and performed inter­nationally at shows, festivals and post-secondary institutions, including sharing the stage with Tegan & Sara. She is one half of the music duo Too Attached.

A four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, Vivek was a 2016 Pride Toronto Grand Marshal, a 2015 Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award finalist, and a 2015 recipient of the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Dayne Ogilvie Prize Honour of Distinction.

Awards & Honours

• Winner, Publishing Triangle Award – even this page is white (2017)
• Nominated, Digital Publishing Award – “Have You Told Your Parents?” (2017)
• Finalist, Lambda Literary Award – even this page is white (2017)
• Finalist, J.S. Woodsworth Award (2017)
• 9 Trans Influencers You Should Follow, Out Magazine (2016)
• Finalist, Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts – Emerging Artist (2016)
• Grand Marshal, Pride Toronto (2016)
• Honour of Distinction, Writer’s Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize (2015)
• Honour Book, South Asia Book Awards – God Loves Hair (2015)
• Finalist, Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award (2015)
• Finalist, Bisexual Book Awards – She of the Mountains (2015)
• Winner, Anokhi Media Most Promising LGBTQ Crusader Award (2015)
• Finalist, Lambda Literary Award – She of the Mountains (2015)
• Winner, Steinert & Ferreiro Award for LGBTQ Leadership (2014)
• Winner, George Brown College Achievement Award for Leadership (2014)
• Finalist, Lambda Literary Award – What I LOVE about being QUEER (2014)
• Finalist, Lambda Literary Award – God Loves Hair (2011)
• Winner, We Are Listening International Singer/Songwriter Award (2005)
• Winner, Futures Fest (2001)