Dean Atta is a British poet of Greek Cypriot and Jamaican heritage. He started writing poetry as a teenager, and studied English and Philosophy at the University of Sussex. After performing at open mic nights for several years, it was his poem ‘I Am Nobody’s Nigger’ that helped catapult him into the spotlight. The poem was written in the wake of the conviction of Stephen Lawrence’s murderers, Gary Dobson and David Norris, and writes against the reclamation of the n-word by music artists. A poetry collection of the same name was published shortly after in 2013, and was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. Atta is also the author of two Young Adult novels in verse, The Black Flamingo (2019), which won a Stonewall Book Award, and Only On The Weekends (2022). He is a member of several groups including Malika’s Poetry Kitchen and his second poetry collection, There is (still) love here, will be published in September 2022.
