Author: Nikki Patin

Nikki Patin has been writing for over two decades. She has taught hundreds of workshops at high schools, colleges and universities on performance poetry, body image, sexual assault prevention and LGBT issues. Patin has been in six bands and opened for Jill Scott at the Metro in 2000. Patin was a member of Chicago's 2001 Mental Graffiti National Poetry Slam team and was featured on the fourth season of HBO's Def Poetry Jam. In 2004, Patin was voted one of Chicago's six most fabulous 20-somethings by Chicago Tribune's Red Eye newspaper. In 2006, Patin was voted one of 30 under 30 most influential LGBTQ people in Chicago by Windy City Times and took the gold medal in the Gay Games International LGBT poetry slam. In the fall of 2007, Patin taped a segment for "The Greatest Living Writers Project", an online archive of performances and interviews by living writers that's made available to over 8 million high school students. "The Phat Grrrl Diaries" is her first published collection of writing and design. Recently, she completed a two-month tour of New Zealand and Australia, collaborating with local artists and performing her 60-minute, one-woman show, "The Phat Grrrl Revolution." Patin was nominated for "Best Standout Performer" in the Dunedin Fringe Festival and was featured in numerous radio, TV and print publications, including TV3, George FM and NO. Magazine (NZ).