Pamela Sneed

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| image = Pamela Sneed The Laura Flanders Show 2018.jpg

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| caption = Sneed reads on The Laura Flanders Show in 2018

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| birth_date =1964

| birth_place =Boston, Massachusetts

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| alma_mater = The New School
Long Island University

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| notable_works = Funeral Diva

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| awards = Lambda Literary Award

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Pamela Sneed is an American poet, performance artist,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/24/magazine/chaos-theory.html|title=Chaos Theory|last=Donovan|first=Carrie|date=24 October 1993|work=The New York Times |page=184 |access-date=23 May 2011|quote=Pamela Sneed, a performance poet, tops a man's leather bomber jacket, hip-tied sweater, pants and work boots with an overgrown newsboy cap.}}{{cite book|last1=Rubin|first1=Don|last2=Solorzano|first2=Carlo|title=World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: The Americas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0dt-fCGUBpkC&pg=PA435|accessdate=23 May 2011|date=2000-11-02|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-22745-2|pages=435–}} actress, activist, and teacher. Her book, Funeral Diva, is a memoir in poetry and prose about growing up during the AIDS crisis, and the winner of the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for lesbian poetry.{{Cite web|title=2021 Winners|url=https://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/2021-winners/|access-date=2021-06-02|website=Lambda Literary|language=en}}

Education

Sneed earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lang College at The New School and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in New Media Art and Performance in 2008 at Long Island University.{{Cite web|date=2020-11-14|title=Pamela Sneed|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/pamela-sneed|access-date=2020-11-15|website=Poetry Foundation|language=en}}

Performances

Sneed has held readings and performances at Center Stage at the Studio Museum in Harlem, P.S. 122, Creative Time @ The Brooklyn Anchorage, Exit Art, Lincoln Center Ex-Teresa in Mexico City, The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, The Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, Scotland, The Green Room in Manchester, England, and Literatur Werkstat in Berlin. She also headlined the New Work Now Festival at Joe’s Pub/Public Theater in 2005. In 2018 she was a presenter at the 30th Annual Lambda Literary Awards.{{cite web |title=LGBTQ lit winners of The Lammys announced |url=https://www.lesbiannews.com/lgbtq-lit-winners-lammys/ |website=Lesbian News |access-date=June 28, 2020 |date=June 5, 2018}}{{cite news |first=Kathleen |last=Warnock |title=A Family Fierce, Passionate, and Talented |newspaper=Gay City News |url=https://www.gaycitynews.com/a-family-fierce-passionate-and-talented/ |date=June 6, 2018 |access-date=June 28, 2020}} In 2024 she directed and starred in a performance in tribute to Big Mama Thornton at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater in New York City, for which she received a Creative Capital grant.{{Cite web |last=Telea Borteș |first=Mădălina |date=January 25, 2024 |title=Professor Pamela Sneed Directs and Stars in 'A Tribute to Big Mama Thornton |url=https://arts.columbia.edu/news/professor-pamela-sneed-directs-and-stars-tribute-big-mama-thornton |access-date=October 3, 2024 |website=arts.columbia.edu}}{{Cite web |title=Pamela Sneed: A Tribute to Big Mama Thornton |url=https://creative-capital.org/events/pamela-sneed-a-tribute-to-big-mama-thornton/ }}

Sneed was also involved in Dyke TV, a nationally broadcast grassroots lesbian television program, from its inception in 1993.Dyke TV Records Finding Aid, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. She appeared weekly on the show as the presenter for the arts segment until 1996.

In 2016, Sneed appeared in the live visuals for musician Anohni's song "Execution" on the HOPELESSNESS World Tour.

Academic career

An out lesbian,"Poet Pamela Sneed imagines freedom". Lesbian News, June 1998. Sneed taught voice, performance, and autobiographical writing at Long Island University. In 2012-2014 she taught writing for solo performance and solo performance at Sarah Lawrence College.{{cite web |url=https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/registrar/course-catalogues/2012-2013-course-catalogue.pdf |title=Course Catalogue 2012-2013 |publisher=Sarah Lawrence College |page=116 |date=2012}}{{cite web |url=https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/registrar/course-catalogues/2013-2014-course-catalogue.pdf |title=Course Catalogue 2013-2014 |publisher=Sarah Lawrence College |page=117 |date=2013}} She was the 2017 visiting critic at Yale and at Columbia University, and has been an adjunct assistant professor at the Columbia University School of the Arts.{{cite web |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/pamela-sneed |title= Pamela Sneed |website=Poetry Foundation|date= 11 July 2022 }} {{As of|2023|post=,}} Sneed is an online lecturer in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's low-residency Master of Fine Arts program.{{cite web |url=https://www.saic.edu/academics/departments/low-residency/people/pamela-sneed |title=Pamela Sneed |publisher=School of the Art Institute of Chicago}}

Sneed has mentored other writers, including a pairing with poet Tommy Pico in the 2011-2012 inaugural year of the Queer/Art/Mentors program founded by the filmmaker Ira Sachs.{{cite news|last1=Street|first1=Mikelle|date=February 14, 2018|title=Native American and Gay, a Poet Fortifies His Voice|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/style/tommy-pico-native-american-poet-brooklyn.html|access-date=June 28, 2020}}{{cite web|title=2011-2012 Fellows|url=https://www.queer-art.org/qam-archive/|access-date=June 28, 2020|website=QUEER/ART}} She has subsequently mentored Heather Lynn Johnson (2016-2017) and Erica Cardwell in the 2020-2021 cycle.{{Cite web|title={{!}} Mentorship|url=https://www.queer-art.org/mentorship|access-date=2020-11-15|website=QUEER {{!}} ART|language=en-US}}

''Funeral Diva'' (2020)

Sneed's memoir, Funeral Diva, a poetry and prose book was published by City Lights Publishers in 2020. The book documents growing up in the midst of the AIDS crisis, and focuses specifically on the experiences of Black queer women.{{Cite web|last=Ajani|first=Ashia|title=This Stunning Memoir Preserves the Forgotten Black Stories of the AIDS Crisis|url=https://www.them.us/story/read-me-pamela-sneed-funeral-diva-interview|access-date=2020-11-15|website=them.|date=22 October 2020 |language=en-us}}{{Cite news|last=Sehgal|first=Parul|date=2020-11-18|title='Funeral Diva,' a Mix of Memoir and Poetry, Stirs the Body and Mind|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/books/review-funeral-diva-pamela-sneed.html|access-date=2021-01-17|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=October 15, 2020|title=Funeral Diva|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-87286-811-3|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-17|website=Publishers Weekly}}

The book won the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for lesbian poetry.

Bibliography

= Memoir =

Funeral Diva (City Lights Publishers, 2020){{cite web|last1=Verdery|first1=Mitsuko|date=May 5, 2020|title=Artists Reach Out: Pamela Sneed|url=https://gibneydance.org/2020/05/05/artists-reach-out-pamela-sneed/|website=Gibney Dance}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

= Poetry =

Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery (Henry Holt, 1998)
"Kong," anthologized in The Best Monologues from Best American Short Plays, edited by William W. Demastes (Applause, 2006; 2013){{Cite book|last=Demastes|first=William W.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1086114238|title=Best Monologues from Best American Short Plays|date=2013|publisher=Applause|isbn=978-1-4803-8613-6|location=Milwaukee|oclc=1086114238}}
KONG And Other Works (Vintage Entity Press, 2009)
"Parable of the Sower," anthologized in The 100 Best African American Poems, edited by Nikki Giovanni (Sourcebooks, 2010){{Cite book|title=The 100 Best African American Poems|date=2010|publisher=Sourcebooks|isbn=9781402221118|editor-last=Giovanni|editor-first=Nikki|location=Naperville, Illinois|pages=82–83|chapter=Parable of the Sower|access-date=2020-06-28|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kCG6wdzst68C&pg=PA82}}
Lincoln (2014){{Cite web|title=BGSQD: Book launch for Pamela Sneed's LINCOLN|url=http://www.thelodownny.com/calendar/index.php?eID=8851|access-date=2016-02-06|website=The Lo-Down}}
"Survivor 2014," anthologized in Nepantla: An Anthology of Queer Poets of Color, edited by Christopher Solo (Nightboat Books, 2018){{cite news|last=Cullina|first=Alex|date=October 29, 2018|title=The Poets Behind the First Queer POC Anthology|newspaper=Washington Square News|url=https://nyunews.com/2018/10/29/three-queer-poets-of-color-celebrate-release-of-anthology-collection-at-lillian-vernon-creative-writers-house/}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1008775259|title=Nepantla : an anthology for queer poets of color|date=2018|others=Christopher Soto, Lambda Literary Foundation|isbn=978-1-937658-78-6|location=New York|oclc=1008775259}}
"Born Frees," published on Poets.org (2019){{Cite web|last=Poets|first=Academy of American|title=About Pamela Sneed {{!}} Academy of American Poets|url=https://poets.org/poet/pamela-sneed|access-date=2020-11-15|website=poets.org}}
"Never Again," published on Poets.org (2020)
"I Can't Breathe," published on Poets.org (2020)