"Returning to the powerful single-essay format of I'm Afraid of Men, Vivek Shraya summons her signature wisdom to reflect on a topic she's uniquely qualified to explore: reinvention. Growing up surrounded by Hindu lore, Vivek Shraya first learned to model change after gods who assumed various forms and humans who believed in being born again and again. As a child she worshiped Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian guru who claimed to be the reincarnation of a beloved spiritual master. As a teen she adored Madonna, an idol and a shapeshifter in her own right. But after enacting her own transformations--motivated by both survival and creative expression--she came to see change itself as sacred. People Change is a thought-provoking meditation on reinvention from an artist who has actively refused a single, static shape in both her career and in her personal life. With great intelligence and candour, she mines her own experience to get to the heart of what motivates us to change and what limitations and cultural myths trap us in place. What emerges is a lesson in embracing our multiplicity, honouring the many different versions of ourselves, and celebrating the beauty of transformation, both inside and out."--
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*FINALIST FOR THE CITY OF CALGARY W.O. MITCHELL BOOK PRIZE* “A deeply generous and honest gift to the world.”—Elliot PageThe author of I’m Afraid of Men lets readers in on the secrets to a life of reinvention.Vivek Shraya knows this to be true: people change. We change our haircuts and our outfits and our minds. We change names, titles, labels. We attempt to blend in or to stand out. We outgrow relationships, we abandon dreams for new ones, we start fresh. We seize control of our stories. We make resolutions.In fact, nobody knows this better than Vivek, who’s made a career of embracing many roles: artist, performer, musician, writer, model, teacher. In People Change, she reflects on the origins of this impulse, tracing it to childhood influences from Hinduism to Madonna. What emerges is a meditation on change itself: why we fear it, why we’re drawn to it, what motivates us to change, and what traps us in place.At a time when we’re especially contemplating who we want to be, this slim and stylish handbook is an essential companion—a guide to celebrating our many selves and the inspiration to discover who we’ll become next.
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