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Téa Mutonji

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Canadian writer and poet

Téa Mutonji
Mutonji in Toronto, October 11, 2022Mutonji in Toronto, October 11, 2022
BornDemocratic Republic of the Congo
OccupationAuthor
Alma materUniversity of Toronto Scarborough
Notable worksShut Up You're Pretty (2019)
Notable awardsTrillium Book Award—English Prose (2019)
Edmund White Award (2020)

Téa Mutonji is a Canadian writer and poet, whose debut short story collection Shut Up You're Pretty was published in 2019.

Early life

Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mutonji came to Canada with her family when she was young and grew up in the Scarborough district of Toronto and in Oshawa. While living in Scarborough, she worked in the service industry. She then studied media studies and creative writing at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and planned to go to law school when she was selected as the first writer to be published by VS. Books, Vivek Shraya's new Arsenal Pulp Press imprint for emerging writers of colour.

Works

Shut Up You're Pretty, published in 2019, is a collection of linked short stories about a young girl's coming of age in Scarborough's Galloway neighborhood. The novel centers around Loli and her experiences, which include her move from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Canada, her sexual experiences, grappling with gender roles, and issues revolving around poverty and consent. Mutonji wrote the novel in part to counter negative stereotypes of the neighbourhood with a narrative that depicted some of her own more positive experiences of having lived there.

Currently, Mutonji is working on an anthology with Adrian De Leon and Natasha Ramoutar. The anthology focuses on Scarborough writing.

Themes

In an interview with CityNews, Mutonji stated that she writes from an "activist lens".

Mutonji describes that being called pretty is not a compliment. It is offensive because it prioritizes women’s physical appearance and overshadows every other attribute a woman can be. Instead, Mutonji describes a shift that is happening where women demand that their character is looked at first.

Accolades

In 2017, the Ontario Book Publishers Organization named Mutonji an emerging writer of the year.

In 2023 she was named one of the ten winners of the Journey Prize, in a special edition devoted to Black Canadian writers.

Shut Up You're Pretty was selected for the 2024 edition of Canada Reads, where it was defended by actress Kudakwashe Rutendo.

Year Work Award Category Result Ref
2019 Shut Up You're Pretty Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize — Shortlisted
Trillium Book Award English Prose Won
2020 Edmund White Award — Won
2023 — Journey Prize — Won

Biblio

References

  1. ^ Carter, Sue (2019-04-12). "Vivek Shraya's book imprint launches with Scarborough author Tea Mutonji". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  2. ^ "'Galloway was amazing': Toronto author's short-story collection gives readers another view of Scarborough". CBC News. Apr 25, 2019. Retrieved Oct 5, 2024.
  3. ^ Kaur, Rachna Raj (2019-05-08). "Tea Mutonji adds an incisive coming-of-age tale to Scarborough's literary canon - NOW Magazine". NOW Toronto. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  4. ^ "U of T Scarborough's Tea Mutonji wins the Ontario Creates Trillium Book Award". University of Toronto Alumni. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
  5. Carter, Sue (December 11, 2017). "Téa Mutonji selected as first writer under Vivek Shraya's VS. imprint with Arsenal Pulp". Quill & Quire. Retrieved Oct 5, 2024.
  6. ^ "Writers' Trust finalist Tea Mutonji on the ugly side of 'pretty'". CityNews. November 1, 2019.
  7. "Téa Mutonji | Writers' Trust of Canada". Téa Mutonji | Writers' Trust of Canada. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
  8. ^ "Emerging black writers win the Journey Prize". The Caribbean Camera. 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  9. CBC Books (January 11, 2024). "Meet the Canada Reads 2024 Contenders". CBC Books. Retrieved Oct 5, 2024.
  10. "André Alexis, Michael Crummey shortlisted for $50K Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize". CBC Books, September 24, 2019.
  11. "2020 Trillium Book Award Winners". Ontario Creates. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  12. Samraweet Yohannes, "Téa Mutonji and Kai Cheng Thom among winners of 2020 Publishing Triangle Awards for LGBTQ literature". CBC Books, May 1, 2020.
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