"Hundreds of people showed up to see the Canadian Instagram poet known as Atticus give the first public reading of his career earlier this month at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles. The poet wore a mask...
"Atticus has kept his identity under wraps, even as his poet persona has exploded, with 387,000 Instagram followers – including celebrities such as actor Emma Roberts and supermodel Karlie Kloss. His readers are devoted; some have tattooed his words onto their bodies...
"Atticus won't reveal much about himself. He's from British Columbia, he's "in the kind of older 20s," and he bounces around a lot, he says, between Canada, Europe and L.A. ..."
"I chose to wear a mask because I wanted to remind myself to always write what I feel and not what I think I should feel. I feel like if I wasn't anonymous that I would start writing for the wrong reasons – trying to impress and such."
"I'm not precious about who I am underneath. If people found out, if people have guesses, I don't care; I'm not worried about that. If everyone knew who I am, I'd still wear the mask because at this point I feel it's a symbol of something bigger and that's what I want to project."
"I think because I try to write very truthfully and vulnerably, I would guess that that's what people relate to."