Aspiring Artist and Shani Mootoo

Shani Mootoo: An aspiring artist from a young age, the island didn't offer the higher levels of classes she knew she would need to take to pursue her career goal. Then as she grew older, she didn't see herself being reflected in the country, feeling that as a woman she "was maybe too adventurous, too curious to be happy in a place like Trinidad.", according to Times Colonist. "When I came here to Canada, this was like 30 years ago, it not as if I stepped into a new country where I could be free. There were a lot of struggles, but in Trinidad, I never met gay or lesbian people at that time." Celebrated Canadian writer Shani Mootoo says she always knew she would leave her native Trinidad. "Then of course as I began to come out as lesbian, I realized I would have to live an incredibly closeted life," she said in a recent interview at the offices of Random House of Canada. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.