Shani Mootoo is a Trinidadian-Canadian writer, visual artist and video maker. She was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland, in 1957 to

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The population of Trinidad is notably diverse, with approximately 35% Indo-Trinidadian, 34% ...

parents. She grew up in Trinidad and relocated at the age of 19 to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. She currently lives in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada.

Biography

Early life and education

At an early age Mootoo showed a talent for drawing, painting, and writing, and expressed interest in becoming an artist at the age of 10. Her early efforts were encouraged by her mother Indra (''née'' Samaroo). Her father, Ramesh Mootoo, was a medical family doctor and Trinidadian politician. Much of Shani Mootoo's personal and literary life has been focused on political activism. According to Mootoo, her parents were upset by some of her earliest poems because they described love between two men or between two women. She has said that her parents worried for what those themes might mean for her future, which is why she put her words away and chose to paint instead. She claims that she came back to writing accidentally, and expressed a worry that she was not a writer but a painter first. Mootoo has discussed being sexually assaulted by one of her grandfather's friends. Mootoo earned a Fine Arts BFA Degree at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

in 1980 and an MA in English and Theatre from the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

, 2010. As a multimedia visual artist in

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where she lived from 1994 to 1999, she explored in her paintings, photographs and videos themes of gender, sexuality, and race. The themes of her work resonated with her experiences as an adolescent in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

and as an immigrant adult in Canada. Her visual art and video work have traveled and been acclaimed internationally. She is now teaching the Creative Writing Program at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Visual and video art

Mootoo's visual art and video work have been exhibited internationally, including at the New York

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

. On the topic of her visual work, she has said that as a victim of child abuse she found it safer to use pictures rather than words. Mootoo uses her art as a way to deal with the trauma of her childhood and has discussed feelings of confusion as to why the universe would let child abuse happen, while also claiming that as a survivor, she and all those that have suffered at the hands of abusers must come to terms with the trauma and understand what to do with suffering. Her film and video work was revisited by Rungh in its program ''Longing and Belonging: 1990s South Asian Film and Video'', a featured program at the 2019 DOXA Documentary Film Festival. Mootoo reflected on her film and video work in the 1990s in the commissioned article "Streams Coming Together: 1990s video in Vancouver and beyond".

Literary career

Mootoo's first literary publication, ''Out on Main Street'', a collection of short stories, was solicited by the Vancouver-based feminist publishing house

Press Gang Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is a type of conscription of people into a military force, especially a naval force, via intimidation and physical coercion, conducted by an organized group (hence "gang"). European nav ...

in 1993, and was the beginning of her literary career. Her first full-length novel, ''Cereus Blooms at Night'', published by Press Gang in 1996, was shortlisted for the Scotia Bank

Giller Prize The Giller Prize (known as the Scotiabank Giller Prize from 2005-2023) is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried co ...

in 1997, the

Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, established in 1985 as one of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes, is awarded annually to the best work of fiction by a resident of British Columbia, Canada. The award is named after novelist and short story A short ...

, and the Chapters Books in Canada First Novel Award. It has been published in 15 countries and won the New England Book Sellers Award in 1998. Set on a tropical island, the novel is narrated by a male nurse and caretaker, and explores trauma, madness and redemption, the legacies of sexual abuse, and the boundaries between heterosexual and homosexual desire.Andrew Vowles
"A New Write of Passage"
People at Guelph, Volume 53, No. 16, October 28, 2009. In 2002, Mootoo followed her first novel with a collection of poetry, ''The Predicament of Or''. Her second full-length novel, ''He Drown She in the Sea'', was published in 2005. It made the long list for the

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...

in 2007. Her 2008 novel, '' Valmiki's Daughter'', is set in

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

, Trinidad, and depicts a father and daughter who struggle to come to terms with secrets. Mootoo has said that the story is about a father trying to help his daughter from leading the same kind of closeted life that he has led. Viveka and her father's lives are each underpinned by the constraints of class and race, and most importantly by the sexual conventions of their society. Set against its strongly evoked backdrop of place, the novel charts Viveka's coming to terms with the hard understanding that love faces society's obstacles, and her knowledge of her certain survival. ''Valmiki's Daughter'' was long-listed for 2009's

Scotiabank Giller Prize The Giller Prize (known as the Scotiabank Giller Prize from 2005-2023) is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried c ...

. In an interview, Mootoo explained her realization that she had written about food on almost every page of ''Valmiki's Daughter'' without realizing it. She discusses the importance of food and entertaining people in Trinidadian culture, as well as in her life and her other work. Mootoo's two most recent novels, ''Moving Forward Sideways like a Crab'' (2014) and ''Polar Vortex'' (2020), were also shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Mootoo's novels are found on course lists in the Departments of English, Liberal Arts, Women's Studies, and Cultural Studies at universities in the Caribbean, Canada, the United States, England, Europe, India, and Australia. Mootoo's literary papers are held at Simon Fraser University Special Collections and Rare Books. The collection contains "printed typescripts of published works with drafts and related working papers, published reviews, drafts of unpublished works, lecture notes, professional correspondence, notebooks and sketchbooks, video productions in VHS format, audio materials and works of visual art". In 2022 the

Writers' Trust of Canada The Writers' Trust of Canada () is a registered charity which provides financial support to Canadian writers. Founded by Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Graeme Gibson, Margaret Laurence, and David Young (Canadian playwright), David Young; the W ...

awarded Mootoo its

Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award The Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to an established Canadian author to honour their body of work. Presented for the first time in 2008 under the name Notable Author Awar ...

for her body of work.

Other projects

Mootoo has served as writer in residence at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

, the

and the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

, and as a visiting scholar at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, US. She frequently speaks and reads internationally. In 2008, the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados, hosted a Symposium on the Fictions of Shani Mootoo in the Context of Caribbean Women's Writings. In 2009, she served on the jury for the

Dayne Ogilvie Prize The Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to an emerging Canadian writer who is part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer community. Origina ...

, a literary award for emerging LGBT writers in Canada, selecting

Debra Anderson Debra Anderson is a Canadian writer, who won the 2009 Dayne Ogilvie Prize from the Writers' Trust of Canada for an emerging lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender writer. A graduate of the creative writing program at York University, her public ...

as that year's prize winner."Code write"
. ''

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former p ...

'', June 18, 2009. Mootoo has spoken out against child abuse. In 1989 she addressed Sex Offenders at Stave Lake Correctional Centre about being a survivor of child abuse and suffering.

Videos written, directed and filmed by Mootoo

* ''And the Rest is Drag'', 32 mins, 2010 with Melisa Brittain and Danielle Peers (KingCrip Productions) * ''View'', 8 mins, 2000 * '' Guerita and Prietita'', 23 mins, 1999 with Kath High * '' Her Sweetness Lingers'', 18 mins, 1998 *'' The Wild Woman in the Woods'', 12 mins, 1992 *'' A Paddle and a Compass'', 8 mins, 1992 with Wendy Oberlander *'' English Lesson'', 5 mins, 1990 *'' Lest I Burn'', 8 mins, 1989

Selected visual art exhibitions and video screenings

*'' Topographies'', The Vancouver Art Gallery, 1997 *''

Transculture Transculturalism is defined as "seeing oneself in the other".Cuccioletta, DonaldMulticulturalism or Transculturalism: Towards a Cosmopolitan Citizenship., LONDON JOURNAL OF CANADIAN STUDIES 2001/2002 VOLUME 17, Plattsburgh State University of New Y ...

'', The Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, 1995 *''

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

'', New York City, New York, USA, 1994, 1995 *''

Queens Museum The Queens Museum (formerly the Queens Museum of Art) is an art museum and educational center at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. Established in 1972, the museum includes the '' Panorama of the City of New ...

'', New York, USA, 1995 *''

Solo Exhibition A solo show or solo exhibition is an art exhibition, exhibition of the work of only one artist. Rather than a group of artists who collaborate to form an exhibition. The artwork may be paintings, drawings, etchings, collage, sculpture, or photogr ...

'', The National Gallery, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 1980

Bibliography

* '' Out on Main Street'' (1993) * '' Cereus Blooms at Night'' (1996) (shortlisted for the

) * '' The Predicament of or'' (2001) * '' He Drown She in the Sea'' (2005) * '' Valmiki's Daughter'' (2009) (longlisted for the

) * '' Moving Forward Sideways like a Crab'' (2014) (longlisted for the

) * ''

Polar Vortex A polar vortex, more formally a circumpolar vortex, is a large region of cold, rotating air; polar vortices encircle both of Earth's polar regions. Polar vortices also exist on other rotating, low-obliquity planetary bodies. The term polar vor ...

'' (2020) (shortlisted for the

)

References

External links

Records of Shani Mootoo held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare BooksRecordings of Shani Mootoo available online in the Unarchiving the Margins Collection at Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books

Rungh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mootoo, Shani 1958 births Living people Canadian multimedia artists Canadian women novelists Canadian photographers Canadian video artists Canadian women video artists Canadian women painters Canadian writers of Asian descent Canadian contemporary painters Canadian people of Indian descent Irish LGBTQ writers Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to Canada Trinidad and Tobago people of Indian descent Academic staff of the University of Alberta University of Western Ontario alumni University of Guelph alumni 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian LGBTQ novelists Trinidad and Tobago women novelists Trinidad and Tobago novelists 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women artists Canadian lesbian writers Lesbian novelists 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people Novelists from British Columbia Novelists from Toronto