Member Profile

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Natasha Deen

When she was a child, Natasha Deen and her family moved from Guyana, South America to Canada. She grew up in Calgary where she got to experience great stuff and not so great stuff.  Reading books and writing stories helped her deal with all the *stuff*. These days, she writes for kids, teens, and adults. Her books have been CCBC Best Pick for Kids and Teens, and Moonbeam Award winners. Her latest novel, In the Key of Nira Ghani is a Junior Library Guild selection, a CCBC Best Pick for Kids & Teens (Red Leaf Literature), an OLA Red Maple Award nominee, and a Chapters-Indigo Most Anticipated Teen Books. When she’s not writing, she visits schools and libraries to help people find and tell the stories inside of them. Natasha also spends a lot of time trying to convince her pets that she’s the boss of the house. Visit her at www.natashadeen.com 

E-mail: c/o Writers' Union of Canada
Phone number:
c/o Writers' Union of Canada

Publications

Lark Holds the Key. Orca Book Publishers, 2016
Across the Floor. Orca Book Publisher, 2016
Gatekeeper. Great Plains Publishing, 2016
Sleight of Hand. Orca Book Publisher, 2015
Burned. Orca Book Publisher, 2015
Guardian. Great Plains Publishing, 2014
Lark and the Diamond Caper. Orca Book Publishers, 2017
Terminate. Orca Book Publishers, 2017
Lark Takes a Bow. Orca Book Publishers, 2018
Lark and the Dessert Disaster. Orca Book Publishers, 2019
In the Key of Nira Ghani. Running Press, 2019
Thicker than Water. Orca Book Publishers, 2019
Jake Maddox: Softball Switch Up. Capstone Books, 2019
You Too?. Inkyard Press, 2020

Awards

CCBC Best Pick for Kids and Teens for Gatekeeper, 2016
Moonbeam Award for Gatekeeper, 2016
CCBC Best Pick for Kids and Teens, Starred Selection for Sleight of Hand, 2015
CCBC Best Pick for Kids and Teens for Guardian, 2015
Moonbeam Award for Guardian, 2015
Red Maple Award Nominee for In the Key of Nira Ghani, 2019
Eligible for National Public Readings Program :
Yes

WITS

Presentation Description

Natasha’s dynamic sessions have been described as "Ted Talk meets stand-up comedy," and in them, she celebrates the funny, awkward, sometimes sad, moments of being a kid and being part of an immigrant family. She uses her experiences to connect with students on the universal moments of growing up: feeling different, wanting friends, and hilarious moments when the grown-ups act more like kids. Through the presentation, she weaves in literacy tips as well as themes of inclusion, diversity, and growth mindset.

Natasha has specific presentations for FDK, Grades 1-3, Grades 4-6, Grades 7-9, Grades 10-12, as well as presentations for mixed-age audiences (i.e. K-8). She is also happy to customize her presentations/workshops per your students’ needs. Please contact her for to discuss your organization's needs.

Presentation Length:
One hour
Genre:
YA, kidlit
Grades:
JK-Grade 12
Audience size:
Flexible (200+)
Workshop Description:

Workshops can be customized according to your organization's needs.

Group Story – For the Pre-K through to grade 1s, this collaborative session

allows big imaginations to roam free, while instilling the fundamentals of

organized writing, plot, and character.

 

Writing Smash Up – Fun, simple, and multi-media, young writers will get

tools that help them create characters, draft plot, and boost their

descriptive writing.

 

Writing with the F-Word–FUN! – With a lot of fun and using music, images,

and video, students will learn simple tips to expand their writing.

 

Mindcraft – Taking over your reader’s brain and defeating writer’s block is

a lot easier (and more fun!) when you know the three secrets to writing an

awesome story!

 

The Liar's Club - The session allows students to mix fact and fiction, and shows

them how blurring the lines between the two can make for a great story.

 

Oh, the Horror of it all! - Want to creep out your readers? Make them sleep

with the lights on? Make them too afraid to even GO to sleep? Natasha’s

session will show you how to write the kind of scary that will leave your

readers screaming…for more!

Northern OAC WITS:
Yes
One session:
$Half day - $525
Three sessions:
$Full day - $1000
One session:
$$
GST:
GST applicable

Equity Initiative

As part of the Union’s Equity Implementation Plan, we are committed to increasing awareness of authors who are Black, Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQI2S, or living with a disability. This author identifies as:

  • Black, Indigenous, and/or racialized