Shani Mootoo – författare

Set on a fictional Caribbean island during World War II and in modern-day Vancouver, He Drown She in the Sea is the spellbinding story of two childhood friends reunited late in life. As children, Rose Sangha and her housekeeper's son, Harry, are inseparable, blissfully unaware of the subtleties of class hierarchy until the night Harry is banished from the Sangha home. When Harry and Rose meet again in Canada years later, the gulf separating them is not so apparent. They have a life-affirming affair and Rose dares to reroute their destinies. This is a haunting, sensuous, and suspenseful story about love against all odds, and the sacrifice and euphoria that come with defying the life one is born into.

EVERYONE THINKS MALA IS A MURDERER'A Caribbean classic' Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch-------Everyone in Paradise thinks Mala Ramchandin is a murderer. But with no body, no evidence and no witnesses, Mala is sent to an Alms House as a madwoman instead of prison. Here she meets Tyler, the only openly queer person on the island of Lantanacamara with whom she feels an affinity as an outsider. Despite Mala's muteness, she manages to communicate with Tyler about her missing sister, Asha.This is Mala's story, and an appeal to find Asha, told in Tyler's words. He dives deeply into Mala's family history, uncovering years of trauma passed down through generations and - staggeringly, beautifully - the love that has survived through it all.With an introduction by Ingrid Persaud.'Visceral, sensual and heartbreakingly tender' Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, author of When We Were Birds'A story of magical power' Alice Munro, author of Dear Life'Will remind many readers of Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things' Kirkus'Clearly ahead of its time' BooksellerFINALIST FOR THE GILLER PRIZEFINALIST FOR THE ETHEL WILSON FICTION PRIZELONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE

Set on a fictional Caribbean island during World War II and in modern-day Vancouver, He Drown She in the Sea is the spellbinding story of two childhood friends reunited late in life. As children, Rose Sangha and her housekeeper's son, Harry, are inseparable, blissfully unaware of the subtleties of class hierarchy until the night Harry is banished from the Sangha home. When Harry and Rose meet again in Canada years later, the gulf separating them is not so apparent. They have a life-affirming affair and Rose dares to reroute their destinies. This is a haunting, sensuous, and suspenseful story about love against all odds, and the sacrifice and euphoria that come with defying the life one is born into.

Short-listed for the Lambda Literary Award from the author of Cereus Blooms at Night. "A fascinating premise that gives voice to the queer-identified" (The Globe and Mail, Toronto). Jonathan Lewis-Adey was nine when his parents separated, and his mother, Sid, vanished entirely from his life. It is not until he is a grown man that Jonathan finally reconnects with his beloved lost parent, only to find, to his shock and dismay, that the woman he knew as "Sid" in Toronto has become an elegant man named Sydney living in his native Trinidad. For nine years, Jonathan has paid regular visits to Sydney on his island retreat, trying with quiet desperation to rediscover the parent he adored inside this familiar stranger, and to overcome his lingering confusion and anger at the choices Sydney has made. At the novel''s opening, Jonathan is summoned urgently to Trinidad where Sydney, now aged and dying, seems at last to offer him the gift he longs for: a winding story that moves forward sideways as it reveals the truths of Sydney''s life. But when and where the story will end is up to Jonathan, and it is he who must decide what to do with Sydney''s haunting legacy of love, loss, and acceptance. "The novel''s evocation of the light and sights of Trinidad, its tropical over-ripeness and the scary suddenness of night''s onset, are vivid. But most vivid of all is the sensitive, wise Sid/Syd, whose tragedy is to never have been loved the way she/he deserved." —Toronto Star "Mootoo''s character-driven novel is rich in setting and slow in pace, inviting the reader to linger over its closely observed details." —Booklist

In honour of the twentieth anniversary of the CLC Kreisel Lecture series, three writers explore what it means to write from, in, and with Canada at a moment when “in Canada” is at once fraught and fiercely defended. How do writers think about the relationship between place, identity, and storytelling? Richard Van Camp, Shani Mootoo, and Lise Gaboury-Diallo individually reflect on their connections to land and community, on the literary textures that provoke and support an understanding of belonging, and on the places—imagined and real—that have influenced their work. To write from or about place in Canada is not to claim it, but to remain cognizant of its histories, presences, and limits, and answerable to them. These writers point to Canada as a relational and convergent space rather than a coherent national imaginary. This literary cross-pollination is for all readers keen to explore how writers break trail for each other and how layered our sense of belonging can be.