The Subtweet: A Novel

2021 Longlist

Celebrated multidisciplinary artist, Vivek Shraya’s second novel is a no-holds-barred examination of the music industry, social media, and making art in the modern era, shining a light on the promise and peril of being seen. Indie musician Neela Devaki has built a career writing the songs she wants to hear but nobody else is singing. When one of Neela’s songs is covered by internet artist RUK-MINI and becomes a viral sensation, the two musicians meet and a transformative friendship begins. But before long, the systemic pressures that pit women against one another begin to bear down on Neela and RUK-MINI, stirring up self-doubt and jealousy. With a single tweet, their friendship implodes, a career is destroyed, and the two women find themselves at the centre of an internet firestorm.

About the Author

Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of music, literature, visual art, theater, and film. Her bestselling book I’m Afraid of Men was heralded by Vanity Fair as “cultural rocket fuel,” and her album with Queer Songbook Orchestra, Part-Time Woman, was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize. She is one half of the music duo Too Attached and the founder of the publishing imprint VS. Books. A five-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, Vivek has also received honors from the Writers’ Trust of Canada and the Publishing Triangle. She is a director on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation and an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Calgary.

Librarian’s Comments

In 2016 when Vivek Shraya released “even this page is white,” an exploration of the effects of everyday racism in Canada, she became a Canadian literary sensation. Shraya is known for other talents including visual arts, teaching, and music. Recently, she designed a mentorship program for VS. Books, a new imprint from Arsenal Pulp Press that offers mentorship and publishing opportunities for young writers who identify as Black, Indigenous, or Persons of Colour. Her latest novel, “The Subtweet,” is both an exploration of art in the modern era and a story of a friendship between two female musicians of colour. In the midst of Black Lives Matter and other international social justice movements, there isn’t a timelier and more pleasurable novel to read this summer than “The Subtweet” by Vivek Shraya. Vancouver Public Library, Canada