Why Vivek Shraya turned her hate mail into the graphic novel, Death Threat

Originally published on May 23, 2019

Vivek Shraya is a busy woman. She's got her hands in writing, photography, fashion and music — and you may have even seen her face on MAC Cosmetics advertisements and billboards in Canada. But for all the love she's getting from fans, she also gets a lot of hate mail.

As a transfemine person of colour who works a lot online, Shraya's inbox is usually a mix of praise and mean-spirited comments. When a stranger started sending her a series of vivid death threats, she found it upsetting, but saw something strangely poetic in it, too. She decided to turn her hate mail into a graphic novel called Death Threat, which is out now.

Shraya joined q's Tom Power from Calgary to tell us more about her book, her experiences and her thoughts about trauma and marginalized artists.

If you're in Toronto, you can check out Shraya's photo series, Trauma Clown, which runs until Sunday, June 2 as a part of the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival.

— Produced by ​Diane Eros