Mar 23, 2021
This event is now available to watch on our YouTube page, along
with the rest of our 2020 festival programming.
Co-presented by City Lights Booksellers &
Publishers
“This notable achievement...is a harrowing account
of how Sneed transforms violence and pain into an artist's life."
—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen: A Lyric
In this collection of personal essays and poetry, acclaimed
Brooklyn-based poet/performer Pamela Sneed details her coming of
age in New York City during the late 1980s. Funeral
Diva (City Lights) captures the impact of AIDS on Black
Queer life, and highlights the enduring bonds between the living,
the dying, and the dead. Sneed's poems not only converse with
lovers past and present, but also with her literary forebears—like
James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde—whose aesthetic and
thematic investments she renews for a contemporary American
landscape. Offering critical focus on matters from police brutality
to LGBTQ+ rights, Funeral Diva confronts today's
most pressing issues with acerbic wit and audacity. The collection
closes with Sneed's reflections on the two pandemics of her time,
AIDS and COVID-19, and the disproportionate impact of each on
African American communities. Sneed discusses and reads from her
work, alongside poet and Literary Hub editor
Tommy Pico. FREE, $5-10 suggested
donation
Buy the authors' books:
Pamela Sneed -- http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100510140&fa=description
Tommy Pico -- https://bookshop.org/a/11096/9781947793576
Browse Litquake's bookstore here
-- https://bookshop.org/shop/litquake