Making Our Own Way, Ep. 6: Author Téa Mutonji
In author Téa Mutonji’s 2019 book, Shut Up You’re Pretty, Congolese-Canadian Loli embarks on a messy, imperfect coming-of-age journey told through sharp, almost too-relatable short stories. The stories follow Loli from the age of six, when she arrives in Scarborough with her mother and brother (her father is at first distant, then dead) to 26, and explore themes of friendship, sexuality, family, racism and belonging—all in Mutonji’s trademark honest, evocative and sometimes melancholy style.
“I write about the messy Black girl who's stupid and hopeless and desperate and romantic. That's my jam—because I'm stupid and messy and romantic,” she says.
In this week’s episode of Making Our Own Way, we talk about Mutonji’s writing process, who actually gets to be messy in literature and why she still finds so much inspiration in Scarborough’s Galloway neighbourhood, where she, like Loli, grew up.
Making Our Own Way is a six-part video series about GTA creatives who are figuring out their own unique pathways to success, both within and outside of traditional power structures. Hosted by Friday Things founder and editor Stacy Lee Kong, each video features thoughtful conversations about what it’s like to break new ground—and why it matters that we do. We also laugh (a lot).