Dean Atta visits Hammersmith Academy
On Friday 27th June, Black Books Matter UK teamed up with Hachette Children’s publishing house to present Hammersmith Academy secondary school in West London with exclusive talks and a Q&A with author Dean Atta, following the release of his latest young adult book, Only on the Weekends. The novel follows fifteen-year-old Mack, as he moves from to Glasgow and navigates not only a long distance relationship with his boyfriend Karim but the overwhelming attraction he has for Mack.
Dean Atta is a British writer from London. He is a Malika's Poetry Kitchen member, National Poetry Day ambassador and LGBT+ History Month patron. Dean’s poems have been highly commended by the Forward Prizes for Poetry and shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize and Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition. His books have been praised by the likes of Bernardine Evaristo, Benjamin Zephaniah and Malorie Blackman.
Dean began the morning by joining two of the school’s English classrooms, speaking openly and proudly about his works, answering questions on his life and progression as a writer, and read aloud the moving poem, ‘I Come From’, from his first novel The Black Flamingo. A poetic response to the question, ‘Where do you come from?’ that Dean spoke about being asked countless times throughout his life.
In The Black Flamingo, “A boy comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen - then at university he finds his wings as a drag artist, The Black Flamingo. A bold story about the power of embracing your uniqueness. Sometimes, we need to take charge, to stand up wearing pink feathers - to show ourselves to the world in bold colour.”
The young people appeared engaged and were excited to ask Dean questions about his life and his creative process, including the length of the publishing process, how he found inspiration for his protagonists, and of course his favourite caribbean dishes. They were also excited to share with Dean their own creative pursuits, like making YouTube videos and writing poetry. Dean gave thoughtful and inspiring answers, always expressing that they could achieve whatever they wanted if they put their minds to it.
After the readings and questions in classrooms, we moved to the school library where Dean was joined by Jac O’Kody and a small group of students for a Q&A. The students were incredibly interested in Dean and his works, and also about his life as a young person, especially his experience of coming out.
Dean also spoke about the experience of being a student while section 28 was still being enforced, this was the legislation that stated that a local authority "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality", basically meaning schools could not discuss homosexuality and teachers could not be openly homosexual. Dean spoke sensitively and from the heart about the topic, commenting on the stark difference to the situation today and why talks and books like this are so important.
The morning rounded up with lots of requests of how to order the books, fond farewells, and lots of autograph requests for Dean!
