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Dean Atta

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Contact: infodeanatta@gmail.com
Local authority: Glasgow City
Languages: English
Author type: Performance Poet, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Writer
Dean Atta's headshot

Dean’s debut poetry collection, I Am Nobody’s Nigger (Westbourne Press, 2013), was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. He was named as one of the most influential LGBT people in the UK by the Independent on Sunday Pink List, and featured in Out News Global Pride Power List.

Dean has performed across the UK at festivals such as Brighton Fringe, Cheltenham Book Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Hay Festival, Latitude Festival, Secret Garden Party. He has performed internationally at the Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean (Italy), CrossKultur (Germany), Ordspark (Sweden), Word N Sound (South Africa), International Festival of Authors, PuSh Festival, and Vancouver Writers’ Festival (Canada).

Dean co-produces spoken word night Come Rhyme With Me alongside Deanna Rodger. He is a member of Keats House Poets Forum, Malika’s Poetry Kitchen, and Scottish BAME Writers. Dean has been commissioned to write poems for BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service, Dazed & Confused, Keats House Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain, and Tate Modern.

His young adult verse-novel, The Black Flamingo (Hodder Children’s Books, 2019), was awarded the Stonewall Book Award 2020, and is shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, Jhalak Prize, and YA Book Prize.

(Photo credit: Rosie Gilbey)

Websites featuring the author

Local authorities can visit

Aberdeen City; Aberdeenshire; Angus; Argyll and Bute; Clackmannanshire; Dumfries and Galloway; Dundee; East Ayrshire; East Dunbartonshire; East Lothian; East Renfrewshire; Edinburgh City; Falkirk; Fife; Glasgow City; Highland; Inverclyde; Midlothian; Moray; Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles); North Ayrshire; North Lanarkshire; Orkney Islands; Perth and Kinross; Renfrewshire; Scottish Borders; Shetland; South Ayrshire; South Lanarkshire; Stirling; West Dunbartonshire; West Lothian

Events can deliver

Mentoring; Panel event; Performance; Reading; Residency; Talk; Workshop; Professional development, CLPL or CPD; Chairing events

Audience can work with

Adult learners; Care-experienced people; Carers; English as an additional language (EAL); Intergenerational learning; Outdoor learning; Adults with additional support needs; People experiencing mental health problems; Prisoners & young offenders; Reluctant readers; Vulnerable young people (under 18); Vulnerable adults; Vulnerable older people; Young people in the community (e.g. Youth clubs, Guides, Scouts); Young people with additional support needs (under 18) (ASN/SEN)

Topics of work

Activism & protest; Adolescence; Animals; Characters of colour & BAME characters; Childhood; Class & society; Coasts, seas & oceans; Contemporary fiction; Death, grief & bereavement; Discrimination & Prejudice; Editing & editing your own work; Emigration & immigration; Fairy tales, folklore & mythology; Family; Food; Friendship; Gender equality; Health including mental health & wellbeing; Human rights; LGBTQIA+ characters; Loneliness & isolation; Love & romance; Music; Performance training; Religion & Beliefs; Urban communities

Age groups published for

Teens; Adults

Age groups can work with

12-14; 15-18; Adults

Audience size

0-10; 11-30; 31-100; 100-500; 500+

Get involved

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