VS. Books was founded by artist Vivek Shraya in 2017 to create more intergenerational dialogue and support for artists of colour. Each year, Vivek offers a mentorship opportunity for a young writer who is Indigenous, Black, or a person of colour, as well as a publishing contract under the VS. Books imprint with Arsenal Pulp Press.

Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of music, poetry, fiction, visual art, and film. A Publishing Triangle Award winner, her books include I’m Afraid of Men, even this page is white, The Boy & The Bindi, and She of the Mountains. Shraya is one half of the music duo Too Attached and founder of the publishing imprint VS. Books. She teaches creative writing at the University of Calgary.

Arsenal Pulp Press is a book publisher in Vancouver, Canada with over 300 titles currently in print, which include literary fiction and nonfiction; cultural and gender studies; LGBT and multicultural literature; cookbooks, including vegan; alternative crafts; graphic novels; visual arts; and books in translation. We are interested in literature that engages and challenges readers, and which asks probing questions about the world around us.