ABOUT
Dena Igusti is a queer non binary Indonesian Muslim poet, playwright, filmmaker, producer, and FGC survivor & activist born and raised in Queens, New York. They are the author of CUT WOMAN (Game Over Books, 2020), which has been listed as a 2022 Perennial Award Winner and 2020 Harvard Bookstore Staff Pick and a Entropy Mag’s Best Of 2020-2021, and I NEED THIS TO NOT SWALLOW ME ALIVE (Gingerbug Press, 2021). They are the co-playwright of the wish: a manual for a last-ditch effort to save abortion in the united states through theater. They are the founder of Dearest Mearest.
Their work has been featured in BOAAT Press, Peregrine Journal, Colorbloq, and several other publications. Their work has been produced and performed at The Brooklyn Museum, The Apollo Theater, Women Deliver, the 2018 Teen Vogue Summit, Players Theatre (SHARUM, 2019), Prelude Festival (Cut Woman, 2020), Center At West Park (CON DOUGH, 2021), The Tank (First Sight 2021 at LimeFest), and several other venues internationally.
They are a 2023 NYFA Women’s Fund Recipient, 2023 NYFA Queens Art Grant Recipient, 2023 Asian American Writers’ Workshop Open City Fellow, 2023 Culture Push Fellow, 2023 More Arts Engaging Artist Fellow, 2022 NeXt Doc Fellow, 2022 Lime Arts Unfinished Resident Playwright and Synesthesia Resident Artist, 2022 Sundress Arts Resident, 2022 Best of the Net Nominee, 2021 Baldwin For The Arts Resident, 2021 Hook Arts Media Digital Connections Fellow, 2021 Rogue Theater Festival Playwright-in-Residence, 2021 City Artist Corps, 2021 Stories Award Finalist, 2021 LMCC Governor’s Island Resident, 2021 Broadway For Racial Justice Inaugural Casting Directive Fellow, 2020 Seventh Wave Editorial Resident, 2020 Ars Nova Emerging Leaders Fellow, 2020 Spotify Sound Up cohort member, 2019 Player’s Theatre Resident Playwright, and 2018 NYC Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador. They are a Converse All Stars Artist and UN #TOGETHERBAND Global Ambassador.
WORK
PUBLICATIONS
Dena Igusti is the author of Cut Woman (Game Over Books, 2020). Dena Igusti’s poetry and essays have been featured in BOAAT Press, Peregrine Journal, Shanghai Literary Review, Teen Vogue, Womanly Mag, Flypaper, & more.
PRODUCTIONS/PERFORMANCES
Dena Igusti’s plays, films, and poetry have been produced and performed at Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Museum, Write About Now, Prelude Festival, Teen Vogue Summit, The Tank, Center At West Park, & more.
COLLABORATIONS
Dena Igusti is an Associated Artist at Converse and Culture Push. They are a United Nations #TogetherBand Ambassador. They have worked with brands such as Seraphtive and Just Water.
“Dena Igusti is a poet of undying urgency…“
George Abraham, author of Birthright (Button Poetry)
VIDEOS
“Dena Igusti weaves alienation, grief, desire, and defiance into an indelible tapestry of survival and celebration. They show us that mortality is not a deadline but a continuum. We will die, but we will also cry, and shout, and love, and dance, and live on. Sunset is just the beginning, and Igusti will guide us into the next morning“
Teta Alim, founder of Buah Zine
Dena Igusti 
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