Death Threat - by Vivek Shraya (Hardcover)

About the Book

A comic book that explores the real-life death threat against writer/musician Vivek Shraya after she came out as transgender.

Book Synopsis

In the fall of 2017, the acclaimed writer and musician Vivek Shraya began receiving vivid and disturbing transphobic hate mail from a stranger. Acclaimed artist Ness Lee brings these letters and Shraya's responses to them to startling life in Death Threat, a comic book that, by its existence, becomes a compelling act of resistance. Using satire and surrealism, Death Threat is an unflinching portrayal of violent harassment from the perspective of both the perpetrator and the target, illustrating the dangers of online accessibility, and the ease with which vitriolic hatred can be spread digitally.

Review Quotes

"Death Threat perfectly expresses the feeling of being exposed to the hurtful and threatening presumptions of strangers. Vivek Shraya and Ness Lee transform a hideous and constrictive mindset into beauty and love." --Lisa Hanawalt, production designer/producer, BoJack Horseman; author of Coyote Doggirl

"That Vivek shares her life so openly is an inspiration to many but is not without costs. I'm so grateful for her voice. It feels like a natural fit for comics." --Jillian Tamaki, co-creator of Skim and This One Summer

"Death Threat is fearless and ambitious. I have no idea where Vivek will go next but we should all be very excited to follow her there." --Michael DeForge, author of Ant Colony and Big Kids

About the Author

Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work includes several albums, films, and books. Her first book of poetry, even this page is white, won a 2017 Publisher Triangle Award and was longlisted for CBC's Canada Reads. She is one half of the music duo Too Attached and the founder of the publishing imprint VS. Books. A four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, Vivek was a 2016 Pride Toronto Grand Marshal, and has received honours from the Toronto Arts Foundation and the Writers' Trust of Canada. Vivek is currently a director on the board of the Tegan & Sara Foundation and an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Calgary.

Ness Lee is an illustrator/artist based in Toronto. Her Illustrations have been chosen for award publications such as American Illustration 35 and The Society of Illustrators 57 and she has exhibited her works at galleries in Toronto, New York, Boston and Tokyo. She graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design with a Bachelors of Design degree in Illustration. She has continued to explore her practice using a wide range of mediums such as ceramics, drawing, painting, and mixed media sculpture.