Paisley. He says: “I’m really impressed with what is here. There are so many amazing festivals… You meet really enthusiastic readers and fellow writers, and I think there’s a great appreciation for the arts, for poetry, for literature.” Until the end of last year, he was also co-director of the Scotish BAME Writers Network (now the Scotish BPOC Writers Network). He joined as a member of its writing workshops, looking to find a communit of writers in Scotland. When the network put out a call for a co-director, he was initially hesitant about applying—“I thought, ‘I’ve just moved here, I can’t really assume to take a position like that’”—but aſter being encouraged to go for it, he was appointed to the role and started planning new projects and partnerships. These included seting up the Scotish Black Writers Group, puting on workshops and programmes, editing the network’s blog, atending meetings with Literature Alliance Scotland, guest-editing an issue of Publishing Scotland’s Books From Scotland e-newsleter, and recommending writers to appear on BBC Scotland show “The Big Scotish Book Club”. Ata is proud of his work with the network to “really showcase what the BAME writers of Scotland were doing and celebrate them”. However, he decided to step down as co-director (though he is still a member) to allow himself more time to write. This year, in addition to Only on the Weekends, he is bringing out a poetry collection with Nine Arches Press, There is Still Love (September), and contributing to More Fiya: A New Collection of Black British Poetry, edited by Kayo Chingonyi (19th May, Canongate). He is also working on his memoir for Canongate, Person Unlimited: An Ode to My Black Queer Body, coming in 2024, which expands on his Attitude magazine column. He says: “With a memoir, there is the opportunit for it to reach people beyond the gay communit, so I’m really excited to see if it’s shocking… When I first wrote a poem about Grindr, I thought I was being so scandalous—then I was allowed to put a mention of Grindr in The Black Flamingo, a YA novel. So things are changing quite rapidly. I think we are able to have more open conversations.”
While he admits it is “not easy” to write his novels because they are oſten quite close to his personal experi- ence, he is conscious of the significance of his visibilit as a gay Black man for teenage readers. He tells me: “I’m not claiming to speak for young people when I write a book about them. I’m speaking as an adult that didn’t have the opportunit as a youth. I had Section 28 when I was at school, so it’s important for me now to redress that imbalance and set right that injustice. I write these stories because I didn’t have them as a teenager. It’s important for me to give back, not only to today’s teenagers, but I think to my younger self.” Ata is excited to see what readers in Scotland and
further afield make of his new book. He says: “I think The Black Flamingo is a book from a very London perspective, but Only on the Weekends fully embraces being in Scotland, especially by the end.” He adds: “It’s a life-changing experience coming to a cit like Glasgow and geting to experience the Highlands and islands as well. So hopefully, people get a sense of that through reading it and maybe they will be inspired to come here if they have never been before.”
Photography: Thomas Sammut
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