Canadian writer and poet
Téa Mutonji is a Canadian writer and poet, whose debut short story collection "Shut Up You're Pretty" was published in 2019.
Early life.
Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mutonji came to Canada with her family when she was young and grew up in the Scarborough district of Toronto and in Oshawa. While living in Scarborough, she worked in the service industry. She then studied media studies and creative writing at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and planned to go to law school when she was selected as the first writer to be published by VS. Books, Vivek Shraya'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 neighborhood. The novel centers around Loli and her experiences, which include her move from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Canada, her sexual experiences, 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 Scarborough writing.
Themes.
In an interview with "CityNews", 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.
In 2017, the Ontario Book Publishers Organization named Mutonji an emerging writer of the year.
In 2023 she was named one of the ten winners of the Journey Prize, in a special edition devoted to Black Canadian writers.
"Shut Up You're Pretty" was selected for the 2024 edition of "Canada Reads", where it was defended by actress Kudakwashe Rutendo.
References.
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