Shani Mootoo comes to BU
An Exclusive Interview with Ogden Glass Lecturer T. ROSE SEITZ-LAVOIE Copy Editor
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n Tuesday, November 28, author Shani Mootoo will be coming to Bishop’s. She will present twice: at 11 am to 12 am in the Foreman Art Gallery, and from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm for the Ogden Glass Lecture in Cleghorn. Mootoo is know for many works, including Cereus Blooms at Night, currently being studied by ENG215. Mootoo worked as a visual artist and video maker before becoming a writer. After her success, she returned to painting and photography. She still continues to write, currently working on her fifth book. Her works have been both shortlisted and longlisted for many awards and prizes. She earned her BFA from the University of Western Ontario and her MA in English from the University of Guelph. Her writing has evolved over the years, started from writing as if to her sisters, to writing for herself, “I am writing to try and understand something about which I am perplexed and it is I who wants answers […] through writing I am searching for answers to my own questions.” Mootoo’s first novel, Cereus, was published in 1996. Mootoo explained a story about a student in the Caribbean who was forbidden by her parents to read or write about the novel, because “they were displeased about the issues of queerness, and the crassness of airing issues of childhood abuse”. In response, Mootoo believes that she was a “messenger of sorts”, and said that she was often asked, ‘why do you write about such things’ or ‘why don’t you write about nicer things?’ This helped open more conversations in Trinidad about the taboo issues in the book.
“I am deeply pleased to say that the sexual abuse of children came out of the closet, and the reality of discrimination of queerness too, and this could only have been a good thing,” she explained in the interview. Having been asked her opinion about students studying her books, Mootoo was tremendously pleased. She is grateful to the professors who read and introduce her work to students. She doesn’t think about this while writing, but there is a general sense that she must take this work seriously and not be slack in executing it. “When I meet students who have studied my work, I find they have seen things I hadn’t intentionally put in […] It’s often that I learn from the students about my work. What I do, and what you do, are two very different processes, but the conversations between us excite me.” An important question for Mootoo was ‘why should students study literature?’ She strongly believes that it allows for a fasttrack introduction to ideas and situations that they may never experience first hand. She says that through one author’s vision, one can have a glimpse into communities, or ideas and situations we are unfamiliar with. Mootoo claims that, “A book is just a book, and yet it is like a map.” The life of a person who engages in study is made bigger, their eyes opened by discussion, debate and research. It can only make for a more thoughtful, broader-minded member of society. For more information on Shani Mootoo before her lecture you can visit her website, www.shanimootoo.com.
PHOTOS COURTESY ALCHETRON.COM
Author Shani Mootoo.
PHOTOS COURTESY GOODREADS.COM
Cover for Cereus Blooms at Night.