Deaf Utopia

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE CO-DIRECTOR OF DEAF PRESIDENT NOW!

A heartfelt and inspiring memoir and celebration of Deaf culture by Nyle DiMarco. Actor, producer, two-time reality show winner, and now co-director of the acclaimed film Deaf President Now!, DiMarco both shares his own story and shines a light on the international Deaf community.

Before becoming the actor, producer, advocate, and model that people know today, Nyle DiMarco was half of a pair of Deaf twins born to a multi-generational Deaf family in Queens, New York. At the hospital one day after he was born, Nyle “failed” his first test—a hearing test—to the joy and excitement of his parents.

In this engrossing disability memoir, Nyle shares stories, both heartbreaking and humorous, of what it means to navigate a world built for hearing people. From growing up in a rough-and-tumble childhood in Queens with his big and loving Italian-American family to where he is now, Nyle has always been driven to explore beyond the boundaries given him. A college math major and athlete at Gallaudet—the famed university for the Deaf in Washington, DC—Nyle was drawn as a young man to acting, and dove headfirst into the reality show competitions America’s Next Top Model and Dancing with the Stars—ultimately winning both competitions.

Deaf Utopia is more than a memoir, it is a cultural anthem—a proud and defiant song of Deaf culture and a love letter to American Sign Language, Nyle’s primary language. Through his stories and those of his Deaf brothers, parents, and grandparents, Nyle opens many windows into the Deaf experience.

Deaf Utopia is intimate, suspenseful, hilarious, eye-opening, and smart—both an inspiring story and a celebration of what makes Deaf culture unique and beautiful.

This is more than just an inspiring story―it’s a window into a vibrant world.

• Deaf Culture: From his multi-generational Deaf family in Queens to his time as a college athlete at Gallaudet University, get an intimate, eye-opening look at the Deaf experience from the inside.
• Deaf Representation: Go behind the scenes of Nyle’s historic, back-to-back wins on the reality show competitions America’s Next Top Model and Dancing with the Stars.
• American Sign Language: Discover the beauty and nuance of ASL in a book that serves as a cultural anthem and a proud love letter to Nyle’s primary language.
• Celebrity Memoir: Read the heartfelt and humorous stories of the actor, producer, and advocate as he navigates a world built for hearing people and explores beyond the boundaries given him.

Advocate, producer, actor, and model Nyle DiMarco has been breaking down barriers and winning over audiences since 2014, when he was a fan favorite on cycle 22 of America’s Next Top Model and became the second male winner and first Deaf contestant on the series. The following year, partnered with Peta Murgatroyd, he took home the coveted mirror ball trophy on season 22 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Nyle’s acting credits include roles on Difficult People, Switched at Birth, This Close, and Station 19 and he served as executive producer on the Netflix docuseries Deaf U. He is passionate in his work as founder of The Nyle DiMarco Foundation, which focuses on bilingual education and aims to improve access to accurate information about early language acquisition. He lives in Washington, DC.

A frequent writing collaborator of Nyle’s, Robert Siebert is also the author of the story “Chocolate Chip,” published in Deaf Lit Extravaganza, which was edited by celebrated DeafBlind poet John Lee Clark. Robert holds degrees from Gallaudet University and resides in Maryland with his fiancée and their two boys.