TMU alum gives voice to queer, South Asian women in award-winning book
Anuja Varghese’s book, Chrysalis, is dedicated to “all the girls and women who don’t see themselves in most stories.” (Photo: Jesse Valvasori)
The newly released, multiple award-winning book, Chrysalis, is far more than words.
Written by author Anuja Varghese, a graduate of The Chang School for Continuing Education at Toronto Metropolitan University, the book of short stories gives an important voice to groups that are rarely centred: South Asian women, queer folks, and intersections of the two.
Chrysalis’ collection of narratives – 15 in total – are so powerfully told, Varghese was recently announced as the winner of the 2023 Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction.
The Governor General’s Literary Awards, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, recognize the best in Canadian books across seven categories in both English and French, and the winner in each category receives $25,000.
Varghese also recently received the Writers Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers.
“One of the most rewarding things has been having people – usually a younger or an older person of colour – reach out to me or come up to me at events, and they'll say, ‘Thank you for writing this. It’s the first time I’ve seen myself in a story like this,’ or ‘In this particular story, that's me!’” said Varghese, who graduated from the Chang School’s Nonprofit and Volunteer Management certificate program in 2019.
“I'm trying to get across that even though we traditionally haven't seen ourselves with that kind of main character energy in the mainstream, we're worthy of it,” said Varghese.
Stories in Chrysalis focus on women of colour and queerness, family and community. They take place mostly in the Toronto area, where Varghese lived for 10 years.
Perhaps what’s also so satisfying about her literary success is that it was conceived in the margins of Varghese’s life: now living in Hamilton, Ont., the mother of two works full-time as a grant writer for YWCA Hamilton. She also serves as the Fiction Editor with The Ex-Puritan Magazine.
“During the pandemic, I bought a really beautiful desk, and I thought, ‘This is going to be my writing space’. But it just never ever happens,” she said, explaining that she mostly writes and edits stories in the Notes app on her phone.
“I’ll write at my kids’ piano lessons, or if I'm waiting for the pasta to boil. It’s in those moments in between things,” she said.
Moments of transformation
The book’s name, which represents transitioning from one form to another, speaks to the overarching theme of the stories in which women and girls are “in moments of transformation,” Varghese said.
Chrysalis is also the title of the last story in the collection - “but also the title of the first story I ever sent out into the world for a contest,” she explained. “So, it’s a nice, full circle moment.”
While Varghese’s tales are fictional, they’re also often influenced by real-life experiences, inspired by personal encounters, as well as those of friends, colleagues and family members.
To illustrate one of her character’s plotlines, Varghese shares insights from one story titled Cherry Blossom Fever – explaining that in it, readers meet a woman who is married to a man. But as the pages turn, it’s revealed that she is having an affair with a woman. Then, readers learn that her husband is also engaging in a sexual relationship with a young man in their apartment building.
Readers gain insights into the impact of the characters’ cultural expectations and socio-economic status, as well as how those things play into their relationships and how they engage with each other.
“What are the risks if you were to speak about the way you feel?” she said. “We know polyamory exists, but it feels like it exists for other people. It doesn't exist for brown people… So it’s that idea of ‘us versus them’, and how all these different factors play into our decisions about who we are or who we can be,” she said.
Anuja Varghese accepts the Writers Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers, which she won for her book, Chrysalis. (Photo: Writers Trust of Canada)
Influenced by R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike…
Varghese says her writing is influenced by various authors she read over the years, including R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, Anne Rice and Ursula K. Le Guin.
“I was probably too young to be reading Anne Rice,” she laughed, referencing the author of gothic fiction and erotic literature.
Literary award winner Farzana Doctor describes Varghese’s characters as both "monstrous" and "ordinary” for unapologetically embracing traits which challenge traditional societal norms.
“In mainstream literature, we see the ugly duckling turning into the swan, or the maid to the princess,” Varghese said. “But in my stories, I wanted to show that sometimes you transform in the ways that empower you the most, and sometimes that's not for the beautiful or for the perfect.”
“Sometimes it’s whatever it takes to give you more power and agency, and sometimes that does look monstrous or dangerous or sexy and magical. I wanted that to be okay for my characters. I don't think that's something that South Asian characters, especially women characters, are allowed to do in mainstream fiction,” she continued.
Lifelong learning – and next steps
Looking back at her studies at The Chang School, Varghese said it served as a valuable foundation for her current career in the non-profit sector, along with various other pursuits, including writing her own grant applications, her volunteer efforts and more.
It also highlighted to her the importance of lifelong learning -- which, in part, motivated her to take the Creative Writing Certificate Program she recently completed at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies.
As for what’s next, Varghese has been working away on an adult fantasy novel based on medieval India.
“It’s sort of a cross between a D&D game and a queer Bollywood movie,” she said.
On her goal with this next project, which is currently with her agent, as she learned with Chrysalis, she said, “ultimately, what’s most meaningful is that my stories are true to my voice, and that people are connecting with them.”
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