The Subtweet - Hardcover

by Vivek Shraya (Author)

2021 Dublin Literary Award Finalist
2021 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist for Transgender Fiction
2020 Toronto Book Awards Finalist

"The Subtweet is affecting, unnerving, empowering, and often truly LOL." -- Foreword Reviews, starred review

"A beautifully crafted novel about race, music, and social media." -- Booklist

Includes an exclusive free soundtrack

Celebrated multidisciplinary artist Vivek Shraya's second novel is a no-holds-barred examination of the music industry, social media, and making art in the modern era, shining a light on the promise and peril of being seen.

Indie musician Neela Devaki has built a career writing the songs she wants to hear but nobody else is singing. When one of Neela's songs is covered by internet artist RUK-MINI and becomes a viral sensation, the two musicians meet and a transformative friendship begins. But before long, the systemic pressures that pit women against one another begin to bear down on Neela and RUK-MINI, stirring up self-doubt and jealousy. With a single tweet, their friendship implodes, a career is destroyed, and the two women find themselves at the centre of an internet firestorm.

Back Jacket

Indie musician Neela Devaki has built a career writing the songs she wants to hear but nobody else is singing. When one of Neela's songs is covered by internet artist RUK-MINI and becomes a viral sensation, the two musicians meet and a transformative friendship begins. But before long, the systemic pressures that pit women against one another begin to bear down on Neela and RUK-MINI, stirring up self-doubt and jealousy. With a single tweet, their friendship implodes, a career is destroyed, and the two women find themselves at the centre of an internet firestorm. Celebrated multidisciplinary artist Vivek Shraya's second novel is a no-holds-barred examination of the music industry and making art in the modern era, shining a light on the promise and peril of being seen.

"The Subtweet takes the topic of online life and allows it to become simply part of the lives of its fully human, complex characters. What emerges is a deeply moving tale about the relationships between artists and friends. Biting and beautiful, it's written with heart by an essential voice." @JonnySun, author of everyone's a aliebn when ur a aliebn too

"So engaging. I can't think of anything I've read that has captured Twitter culture so well. There is something special in this book that really touches on the absurdity and pressure of social media and art. I couldn't put it down." Sara Quin of @TeganandSara

"The Subtweet is a smart, funny, incisive, heart-crushing interrogation of art, race, friendship, social media and the music industry. These characters and their self-destructive self-doubt are compelling, real and vivid. I wanted to live-tweet my reading because I'm just obsessed." @_AndreaWarner, author of Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography

"A subtle mystery -- it captures the adrenaline-filled strange alienation and over-visibility of social media, the sedimentations of racism and the vicissitudes of female friendship. This is a literary novel as well as a hyper-contemporary one. I literally gasped." @ErinWunker, author of Notes from a Feminist Killjoy

#thesubtweetbook

Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of music, literature, visual art, theatre and film. Her bestselling book I'm Afraid of Men was heralded by Vanity Fair as "cultural rocket fuel," and her album with Queer Songbook Orchestra, Part-Time Woman, was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize. She is one half of the music duo Too Attached and the founder of the publishing imprint VS. Books. A five-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, Vivek has also received honours from the Writers' Trust of Canada and the Publishing Triangle. She is a director on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation and an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Calgary.

Author Biography

Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of music, literature, visual art, theater, and film. Her bestselling book I'm Afraid of Men was heralded by Vanity Fair as "cultural rocket fuel," and her album with Queer Songbook Orchestra, Part-Time Woman, was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize. She is one half of the music duo Too Attached and the founder of the publishing imprint VS. Books. A five-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, Vivek has also received honors from the Writers' Trust of Canada and the Publishing Triangle. She is a director on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation and an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Calgary.