Deborah “D.E.E.P.” Mouton

Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton is an internationally-known, multi-hyphenate literary artist, director, performer, critic and the first Black Poet Laureate of Houston, TX. She is the author of the 2019 poetry collection Newsworthy with Bloomsday Literary (and its German counterpart Berichtenswert with Elif Verlag), which was a finalist for the The Writer’s League of Texas Book Award and Honorable Mention in the Summerlee Book Prize. Her poems have garnered her a pushcart nomination and been translated across multiple genres and languages. Honored by Houston Business Journal as a part of their 2021 40 Under 40 class, she has been a contributing writer for Glamour, Texas Monthly, Muzzle, and ESPN’s The Undefeated.

As a playwright and a librettist, she has penned multiple stage works including Marian’s Song with Houston Grand Opera (HGO) & The Forest of Secrets, which premiered at National Sawdust. Her directorial debut began with her work The World’s Intermission, commissioned by Performing Arts Houston and performed at the historic Jones Hall. A work which has since been adapted for film. She serves as writer/director for Plumshuga: The Rise of Lauren Anderson, a choreopoem premiering at Stages Theater in Houston, TX where she resides.

Her forthcoming memoir, Black Chameleon with Henry Holt & Co. (2023), examines womanhood through mythology. One of its stories has been adapted into a storybook opera for young audiences titled “Lula, the Mighty Griot” (HGO). Currently, she is a Resident Artist with the American Lyric Theater, Rice University, and the Houston Museum of African American Culture.