Dean Atta

{{Short description|British poet}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Dean Atta is a British poet of Greek Cypriot and Caribbean descent. He has been listed by The Independent newspaper as one of the 100 most influential LGBT people in the United Kingdom.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/the-ios-pink-list-2012-8216187.html|title=The IoS Pink List 2012|website=Independent.co.uk|date=4 November 2012 |publisher=}} In 2012, his poem "I Am Nobody's Nigger", written in response to the use of the racial slur by the murderers of Stephen Lawrence, achieved much social media coverage, and he was profiled in The Guardian.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jan/11/dean-atta-stephen-lawrence-poem|title=Dean Atta: meet the iPhone poet|first=Stephen|last=Isaac-Wilson|date=11 January 2012|website=The Guardian}}

Born to a Greek Cypriot mother and Jamaican father, he earned a BA degree (2006) in Philosophy and English from the University of Sussex, where he was president of the African Caribbean Society.[https://www.sussex.ac.uk/alumni/people/spotlighton/dean-atta "Dean Atta"], Spotlight on: alumni stories, University of Sussex. His poetry, which often deals with questions of identity and social justice,{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/standupmag/poetry-provides-optimism-in-conversation-with-rising-talent-dean-atta-on-the-power-of-spoken-word-d02c568ef904|title=Poetry provides optimism|first=Stephanie|last=Farnsworth|date=22 April 2017|publisher=}} has been featured on BBC Radio 4, and he has been commissioned to write for museums and galleries including the Keats House Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, London, Tate Britain and Tate Modern.{{cite web|url=https://www.wasafiri.org/person/dean-atta/|title=Dean Atta - Wasafiri Magazine|publisher=|access-date=2018-09-25|archive-date=2018-09-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925220101/https://www.wasafiri.org/person/dean-atta/|url-status=dead}} In 2018, Atta served as a judge for the BBC Young Writers Award.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4PrGlh3csfFgrgdw43K698Q/the-bbc-young-writers-award-2018-listen-to-the-shortlist|title=BBC - The BBC Young Writers' Award 2018 – Listen to the shortlist|website=BBC}}

In 2019 Atta's verse novel, The Black Flamingo, was published by Hachette UK. For The Black Flamingo, Atta was one of two winners of the Stonewall Book Award 2020 in the Children's and Young Adults category.{{Cite news|last=HCHO|date=27 January 2020|title='When Aidan Became a Brother' and 'The Black Flamingo' win 2020 Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award|url=http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2020/01/when-aidan-became-brother-and-black-flamingo-win-2020-stonewall-children-s|access-date=13 June 2020|website=News and Press Center|language=en}}

In 2024, Atta was the runner up in the Caterpillar Poetry Prize.{{cite web |title=Previous Winners of the Caterpillar Poetry Prize |url=https://www.thecaterpillarmagazine.com/a1-page.asp?ID=4640&page=18 |publisher=The Caterpillar Magazine}}