I worry about what Trump will inspire in Canada, especially given incidents that have already occurred here since the election.

My interest in language is steadfast, but I think each project and its accompanying intentions dictate how language must be used.

I didn't want to give the white reader an opportunity to think of racism as imaginary - a sentiment that is already a central barrier in addressing the problem.

When I wouldn't leave home without my blue contacts or when I was bleaching my hair, I didn't have the language to articulate that I was trying to assimilate to whiteness. If anything, I was trying to "look normal."

I am always hesitant to call myself an activist, mostly out of respect for the activists who are using their bodies and voices to protest or activists online who are constantly engaging and educating others.

I don't yet know what style will be required for my next novel, but my sense is that each book will involve a new relationship to language.

In my thirties, I have felt a greater urgency to make art that highlights what it feels like to be racialized, likely due to living in a country that obscures our racism with the idea of "multiculturalism."