Téa Mutonji is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

writer and poet, whose debut short story collection ''Shut Up You're Pretty'' was published in 2019.Sue Carter
"Vivek Shraya's book imprint launches with Scarborough author Tea Mutonji"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', April 12, 2019.

Early life

Born in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

,"'Galloway was amazing': Toronto author's short-story collection gives readers another view of Scarborough"
''

Metro Morning Metro Morning is CBC Radio One's local morning program in Toronto, airing on CBLA-FM. The program airs from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. weekday mornings, and has frequently been Toronto's highest-rated radio program in its timeslot. The program is c ...

'', April 25, 2019. Mutonji came to Canada with her family when she was young and grew up in the

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

district of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and in

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...

.Rachna Raj Kaur
"Téa Mutonji adds an incisive coming-of-age tale to Scarborough's literary canon"
''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'', May 8, 2019. While living in

, she worked in the service industry. She then studied media studies and creative writing at the

University of Toronto Scarborough The University of Toronto Scarborough, also known as U of T Scarborough or UTSC, is one of the three campuses that make up the tri-campus system of the University of Toronto. Located in Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the campus is set upo ...

, and planned to go to

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

when she was selected as the first writer to be published by VS. Books,

Vivek Shraya Vivek Shraya (born February 15, 1981) is a Canadian musician, writer, and visual artist. She currently lives in Calgary, Alberta, where she is an assistant professor in the creative writing program at the University of Calgary. As a trans woman of ...

'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 neighbourhood. The novel centers around Loli and her experiences, which include, her moving from the

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, her sexual experiences, her 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

writing.

Themes

In an interview with ''

CityNews ''CityNews'' (corporately styled City''News'') is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as ''CityPulse'' as a standalone loc ...

'', 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

Mutonji has received several major awards for her work, including: * 2020

Edmund White Award The Edmund White Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle to honour debut novels by writers within the LGBT community. First presented in 2006, the award was named in honour of American novelist Edmund White. Winners * 2 ...

for debut fiction for ''Shut Up You're Pretty.'' * 2020

Trillium Book Award The Trillium Book Award (french: Prix littéraire Trillium or ''Prix Trillium'') is an annual literary award presented to writers in Ontario, Canada. It is administered by Ontario Creates, a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario, which is ov ...

for ''Shut Up You're Pretty.'' She was also named a finalist for the 2019

Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize The Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, formerly known as the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. A ...

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mutonji, Tea 21st-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Black Canadian women Black Canadian writers Canadian women short story writers University of Toronto alumni Writers from Toronto Living people Year of birth missing (living people)