About
Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of music, literature, visual art, theatre, TV, film, and fashion.
She is a Canadian Screen Award winner and a Polaris Music Prize nominee, and her best-selling book I’m Afraid of Men was heralded by Vanity Fair as “cultural rocket fuel.” She is also the founder of the award-winning publishing imprint VS. Books, which supports emerging BIPOC writers.
Vivek has been a brand ambassador for MAC Cosmetics and Pantene. She is a director on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation, and is currently adapting her debut play, How to Fail as a Popstar, as a digital series with CBC.
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 · Tao-Ming Lau @ Paquin Artists Agency
- Website administrator · Amy Grace

Awards & Honours
- 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