Tanya Selvaratnam

Tanya Selvaratnam is a writer and an Emmy-nominated and multiple Webby-winning filmmaker. She has been an Advisor to the Open Future Lab, Pop Culture Collaborative, Michael Latt Legacy Fund, Sankofa, and For Freedoms. She is the author of numerous essays and two books (Assume Nothing: A Story of Intimate Violence and THE BIG LIE). Her writing has been published in the New York Times, Vogue, ELLE, Cosmo, Glamour, CNN, NBC News, and McSweeney’s. Tanya has worked with the Ms. Foundation for Women; Vision & Justice Project, founded by Professor Sarah Lewis; Aubin Pictures; Story Syndicate; Glamour Women of the Year; The Meteor; Joy To The Polls; Brigid Alliance; Invisible Hand; The Shed; and Planned Parenthood. She has collaborated with Gabri Christa, Lisa Cortés, Shruti Ganguly, Liz Garbus, Catherine Gund, Tiffany Shlain, Mickalene Thomas, Lucy Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, and Jed Weintrob, among others. Her films have played on HBO, IFC, PBS, Showtime, Starz, The New Yorker, Vice, and the Sundance Channel; and have premiered at Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca, Aspen Shortsfest, and SXSW. Tanya has spoken at conferences around the world, including at various United Nations and World Health Organization events as well as the Aspen Ideas Festival, New York Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Brooklyn Book Festival, TEDxBerlin, and Skoll World Forum. She has been a commentator on subjects such as the rights and safety of women and children, and the interplay of art and democracy. With Laurie Anderson and Laura Michalchyshyn, she cofounded The Federation, a coalition of artists and arts organizations committed to keeping cultural borders open and showing how art unites us. For more than twenty years, she traveled around the world performing in shows by theater companies such as The Wooster Group and The Builders Association, and at venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Barbican. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Long Beach, CA, Tanya is based in New York City and Portland, Oregon. Watch “Truth Is Power” from TEDxBerlin: https://youtu.be/f6zPolwX6Vo

nature bathing

Peace and kindness is more exciting than violence.

Pausing