Black Flamingo

Dean Atta is the author of YA novels-in-verse The Black Flamingo and Only on the Weekends. Named as 'one of poetry's greatest modern voices' (Gay Times). The Black Flamingo was a top-selling debut of 2020 and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, CILIP Carnegie Medal, The Jhalak Prize and The YA Book Prize. The Black Flamingo was also awarded the prestigious Stonewall Book Award and the Carnegie Shadowers' Choice Award 2020, and sold to the US in a five-way publisher auction. Anshika Khullar is an illustrator based in Southampton, England, whose bold and vibrant work aims to showcase the ordinary as beautiful. Anshika is an Indian, non-binary transgender creative with a BA in English Literature & Media from the University of Brighton; they have a focused interest in intersectional feminist narratives, a study which has invariably informed their art practice, with illustrations that are colourful, detail-oriented, and thoughtfully studded with hidden gems of metaphors made literal, often dealing in overarching socio-political themes.?They are a CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal nominee for their work on the cover and interiors of YA novel The Black Flamingo (by Dean Atta, published by Hodder Books).In addition to commercial, editorial and literary projects, Anshika has appeared as a guest speaker on panels at London Illustration Fair and House of Illustration.

Celebratory and passionate, Atta's bold verse novel calls to its readers to find their own blazing, performative inner truth