UPDATES
Please read this profile of me in the Times of Sri Lanka and learn more about my life, work, egg coffee, and the Pekoe Trail:
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240707/plus/from-survivor-to-thriver-563231.html
My last book Assume Nothing: A Story of Intimate Violence was optioned by ABC Signature/Disney Television Studios and is in development as a television series by Joanna Coles Productions (Joanna Coles and Jessica Whitaker) and Purple Pebble Pictures (Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Mary Rohlich). Priyanka Chopra Jonas is in talks to star in the show.
Please visit this page for more information, including radio and television appearances as well as book tour conversations:
https://www.tanyaturnsup.com/projects/assume-nothing-a-story-of-intimate-violence
Please spread the word with this Domestic Violence Awareness Toolkit:
https://bit.ly/dvawareness_assumenothing
This folder contains resources such as advice for survivors, signs of digital abuse, and more:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a4woryzjqc7mbo3/AAC2S5rT8ltnPsb8nuCWwDkpa?dl=0
Assume Nothing was selected as the #OneBookOneCommunity selection for all of Berkshire County. In April 2023, I did a virtual book talk in conjunction with this program. Here are two articles about it:
https://www.iberkshires.com/story/69728/2022-One-Book-One-Community-Read-Tackles-Intimate-Abuse.html
During Domestic Violence Awareness Month in 2021, I had a series of conversations with Miss Universe Andrea Meza of Mexico:
Episode 1
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVX11bpg8dS/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYy-1m-SX2k
Episode 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4rI44lppjY
Library Journal reviewed the book as "a searing, yet sensitive account of vulnerability and redemption that will find a wide audience." Kirkus Reviews called Assume Nothing "a courageous and compelling example of an author writing her 'way out of the darkness.'" Publishers Weekly said, "This gripping story is not to be missed."
The New York Times praised the book's "crisp, unadorned prose," and further said, "In methodically describing how a successful artist and activist can fall into a dark relationship with a controlling man, she is performing a rare and valuable service."
Ms. Magazine included the book on its list of the 100 most anticipated releases of 2021. And it was a top pick by Zibby Owens on gma.com.
Additional press includes interviews for the New York Times, The Tamron Hall Show, Time,
the New Yorker, People, Good Morning America, and Vanity Fair.
Please order here and help spread the word with the assets in the toolkit: https://bit.ly/assumenothing
Please sign up for my mailing list at the end of this page and follow @TanyaAuthor on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
My most recent documentary feature production is Paint Me a Road Out of Here by Catherine Gund, and it premiered at DC/DOX in June 2024. At the Urbanworld Festival, it won Best Director and an Honorable Mention. You can read about it and the mother-daughter team of Keri and Yara Shahidi signing on as Executive Producers in this Variety piece: https://variety.com/2024/film/news/yara-shahidi-paint-me-a-road-out-of-here-documentary-1235988860
Catherine and I have worked on many films together, including a documentary about her mother, the renowned art collector and philanthropist Agnes Gund, who sold a $165 million Lichtenstein painting to start the Art for Justice Fund to fight mass incarceration.
AGGIE had its world premiere at Sundance 2020, and is available to stream.
Please visit: https://aggiefilm.com/
For Story Syndicate, I produced and co-directed "Love to the Max," about the targeting of trans kids through the story of Max Briggle and his family in Texas. The documentary short had its world premiere at Aspen Shortsfest on April 3, 2024. You can read about it in the Aspen Daily News. Jason Anderson, Shortsfest director of programming, said, “It does something that great documentaries do, which is explore an issue that has gotten badly distorted in the media, and present what it really means to people’s lives in a way that’s acutely, painfully real.”
On April 27, 2024, "Love to the Max" played at the Thin Line Festival in Denton, Texas, and was featured in the Dallas Observer. It was acquired by The New Yorker and is publicly available alongside a piece by Emily Witt:
It can also be viewed on The New Yorker's YouTube channel:
In May 2024, I wrote about the new double bind for women in the Daily Beast:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/diddy-saga-proves-time-was-never-up-for-celebrity-abusers
I am working on a book inspired by my essay "Leaf Me Alone" for ELLE Magazine:
https://www.elle.com/life-love/a37773719/plants-intimate-violence-healing
This piece is accompanied by the art of Shyama Golden.
In March 2024, I was a guest speaker at Dr. Debby Herbenick's Sex Salon, based at Indiana University in Bloomington. While there, I also worked on my book at the
In March 2022, to coincide with International Women's Day and Women's History Month, I was featured as a Changemaker in the WITH LOVE series on Spotify. You can listen to my episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/15RR4eXQddoLZ49nA9QMUk?si=j76Y4X-3Qp6G0cgfne7O9g&nd=1
In December 2021, Cosmo published my essay about the holiday season and domestic violence: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a38375186/domestic-violence-holidays-tanya-selvaratnam/
And Debbie Millman interviewed me for her PRINT magazine column "What Matters": https://www.printmag.com/design-inspiration/what-matters-tanya-selvaratnam-on-the-secret-joy-of-turning-50-and-daydreaming/
I wrote a piece for the New York Times about “Where Can Domestic Violence Victims Turn During Covid-19?”: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/opinion/covid-domestic-violence.html
I had conversations about the issue with:
Miss Universe Zozi Tunzi of South Africa on Instagram Live
Alison Stewart for ALL OF IT/WNYC
Selina MacKenzie for Talk Radio Europe
Dr. Lisa Coleman, as part of NYU Womxn100
Jenna Flanagan for WNET
In honor of Women's History Month, MZ Wallace and Lingua Franca launched a collaboration Metro Tote, with proceeds benefiting the organization She Should Run. I am one of the spokespeople: https://linguafranca.nyc/collections/lf-x-mzw/products/tanya-selvaratnam-1
Marin Cogan did a profile of me for the Washington Post Magazine. I wrote Kindness and Clarity for McSweeney’s. I did a reading of this piece at a night hosted by McSweeney’s at Housing Works Bookstore in NYC. And I wrote about the Exonerated Five and Ava DuVernay's powerful series WHEN THEY SEE US for Glamour. Also, in connection with my first book The Big Lie, I've been cited in many articles, including by Ruth La Ferla in the New York Times; Elizabeth Chuck in NBC News; and Kaitlyn Tiffany in the Verge.
I executive produced and directed Glamour Women of the Year videos. The ceremony took place on November 11, 2019 at Lincoln Center. You can read the announcement here: https://www.glamour.com/story/women-of-the-year-2019-honorees. The honorees were Margaret Atwood, Tory Burch, Ava DuVernay, the women of RAICES(Lucia Allain, Erika Andiola, Mayra Jimenez, and Andrea Meza), Megan Rapinoe, Yara Shahidi, Charlize Theron, and Greta Thunberg. Please click on a name to view the video. You can also check out 2018 videos that I made with Lucy Walker about Viola Davis, Betty Reid Soskin, Chrissy Teigen, Manal al-Sharif, and Kamala Harris, as well as the intro video for the event.
As Executive Video Producer/Director for Glamour Women of the Year, I worked on this tribute video about Vice-President Harris. https://www.glamour.com/video/watch/kamala-harris-tribute
Please also check out my conversation with the filmmakers of SURGE (Hannah Rosenzweig and Wendy Sachs), Jana Lynne Sanchez of Texas, and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester. I am an executive producer of SURGE, which is available on Showtime and Amazon.
https://www.facebook.com/ArtsForBiden/videos/548254519258305/
I helped produce the For Freedoms Congress from February 28 to March 1, 2020 in Los Angeles, CA, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Japanese American National Museum, and Hammer Museum.
I was at the 2019 Glamour Women of the Year Summit in conversation with Megan Twohey, Carrie Goldberg, and moderator Zain Asher (CNN). Please read about the panel here: https://www.glamour.com/story/me-too-two-years-later. The Summit lineup was stellar with E. Jean Carroll, Ilana Glazer, Jameela Jamil, Judith Light, and many more: https://glamourwoty.com/the-summit/
I was a producer for the first-ever convening of The Vision & Justice Project founded by Professor Sarah Lewis. From April 25 to 26, 2019 at Harvard University, the Project brought together leading voices in criminal justice reform and the arts, including Bryan Stevenson, Elizabeth Alexander, David Adjaye, Wynton Marsalis, Ava DuVernay, Agnes Gund, Darren Walker, Hank Willis Thomas, Deborah Willis, Theaster Gates, Alexandra Bell, Jelani Cobb, Naomi Wadler, Yara Shahidi, Kasseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean, Carrie Mae Weems, and many more.
For the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, I helped produce a Sundance For Freedoms Town Hall. Filmmaker Ava DuVernay, performer and choreographer Okwui Okpokwasili, Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas, artist/co-founder of Black Lives Matter Patrisse Cullors, and playwright and performer Lisa Kron (Fun Home) joined Tabitha Jackson, Eric Gottesman, and myself to talk about "Can Art Save Democracy?". Images can be seen here.
Then at the 2019 Skoll World Forum in Oxford, England, I helped produce a second Sundance For Freedoms Town Hall. Moderated by Brenda Coughlin, the participants included Shirley Abraham, Holly Gordon, Judy Kibinge, Jennifer Pahlka, and Indhu Rubasingham.
At the 2019 AWP Conference in Portland, Oregon, I moderated a conversation between authors Julie Buntin, Susan Choi, and Sharma Shields. The event was sponsored by Henry Holt/Macmillan.
In June 2019, I did a reading/performance at the Deep Water Literary Fest in Narrowsburg, New York. The theme was Grimm's Fairy Tales, and I took on "Snow White."
At the 2018 Brooklyn Book Festival, I was on a panel with Maggie Mustard, A.O. Scott, and Deborah Solomon. The event was named by The Cut/New York as one of the most memorable moments of the Festival. You can see the video here.
I moderated a discussion at the International Center of Photography with Daughters of the Movement: Gina Belafonte, daughter of Julie and Harry Belafonte; Suzanne Kay, daughter of Diahann Carroll; Stacy Lynch, daughter of Bill Lynch; Hasna Muhammad, daughter of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee; Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz; Dominique Sharpton, daughter of Reverend Al Sharpton; and Keisha Sutton-James, granddaughter of Percy Sutton. The event was featured in Amsterdam News, and Brea Baker wrote about it for ELLE magazine.