Téa Mutonji

Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,{{Cite web |date=Apr 25, 2019 |title='Galloway was amazing': Toronto author's short-story collection gives readers another view of Scarborough |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/programs/metromorning/scarborough-author-tea-mutonji-1.5110600 |access-date=Oct 5, 2024 |website=CBC News}} Mutonji came to Canada with her family when she was young and grew up in the Scarborough district of Toronto and in Oshawa.{{Cite web |last=Kaur |first=Rachna Raj |date=2019-05-08 |title=Tea Mutonji adds an incisive coming-of-age tale to Scarborough's literary canon - NOW Magazine |url=https://nowtoronto.com/culture/tea-mutonji-shut-up-youre-pretty/ |access-date=2024-10-05 |website=NOW Toronto |language=en-CA}} While living in Scarborough, she worked in the service industry.{{Cite web|title=U of T Scarborough's Tea Mutonji wins the Ontario Creates Trillium Book Award|url=https://alumni.utoronto.ca/news-and-stories/news-and-articles/u-t-scarboroughs-tea-mutonji-wins-ontario-creates-trillium-book|access-date=2021-02-15|website=University of Toronto Alumni|language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Sue |date=December 11, 2017 |title=Téa Mutonji selected as first writer under Vivek Shraya's VS. imprint with Arsenal Pulp |url=https://quillandquire.com/omni/tea-mutonji-selected-as-first-writer-under-vivek-shrayas-vs-imprint-with-arsenal-pulp/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=Oct 5, 2024 |website=Quill & Quire}}

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.

In an interview with CityNews, Mutonji stated that she writes from an "activist lens".{{Cite web|title=Writers' Trust finalist Tea Mutonji on the ugly side of 'pretty'|url=https://toronto.citynews.ca/2019/11/01/writers-trust-finalist-tea-mutonji-on-the-ugly-side-of-pretty/|date=November 1, 2019|website=CityNews}}

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.

In 2017, the Ontario Book Publishers Organization named Mutonji an emerging writer of the year.{{Cite web|title=Téa Mutonji {{!}} Writers' Trust of Canada|url=https://www.writerstrust.com/authors/tea-mutonji|access-date=2021-02-15|website=Téa Mutonji {{!}} Writers' Trust of Canada|language=en}}

In 2023 she was named one of the ten winners of the Journey Prize, in a special edition devoted to Black Canadian writers.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-02-01 |title=Emerging black writers win the Journey Prize |url=https://thecaribbeancamera.com/emerging-black-writers-win-the-journey-prize/ |access-date=2024-10-01 |website=The Caribbean Camera |language=en-US}}

Shut Up You're Pretty was selected for the 2024 edition of Canada Reads, where it was defended by actress Kudakwashe Rutendo.{{Cite web |last=CBC Books |date=January 11, 2024 |title=Meet the Canada Reads 2024 Contenders |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/meet-the-canada-reads-2024-contenders-1.7073689 |access-date=Oct 5, 2024 |website=CBC Books}}

• {{cite book |last=Mutonji |first=Téa |title=Shut Up You're Pretty |publisher=Arsenal Pulp Press |year=2019 |isbn=9781551527550 |author-mask=2}}

{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mutonji, Tea}}

Category:21st-century Canadian short story writers

Category:21st-century Canadian women writers

Category:Black Canadian women writers

Category:Black Canadian short story writers

Category:Canadian women short story writers

Category:University of Toronto alumni

Category:Writers from Toronto

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)