Sweet Dreams

Author: Pamela Sneed

Publisher: Belladonna (2018)

"I believe in the power of memoir which sidesteps all those quasi-anthropological examinations of all of us who know ourselves marginal, stubborn, deviant and creative. What Pamela Sneed has done is to turn her discerning eye on herself and share with us what has shaped her as a woman, a poet, and a performance artist. This is deep diving."

–Dorothy Allison

"In the tradition of Baldwin’s Price of the Ticket, Pamela Sneed takes on the call to action to generously offer her own life experience of finding self and purpose with art, agency and celebration amidst and despite family dysfunction, abandonment, racism, sexism and belonging with joy, humanity, creative daring and a twinkle in the Big Apple to become an acclaimed writer in Downtown New York. This profound poetic journey of her keen and witty observations, revelatory experiences reveals a deeper truth of society and its discontents, that all combined weaves a tapestry with humor, grace and wisdom. Sweet Dreams is a profound memoir of courage, transformation and empowerment. This intimate embodied bold and tender tale calls to action for humanity to insist and create gestures of self-determination while taking a moment to pet the butterfly."

–Karen Finley

"Performer, poet, activist, professor: Pamela Sneed has been a striking and indelible force on multiple art scenes for decades. Sweet Dreams invites us to know more about Pamela on her own terms, in her own words. It’s a compact but comprehensive account into life as she sees it: bodacious, revolutionary, worth fighting for. I imagine this book a lifeline for many on the margins. Speaking one’s truth can be a revolutionary act."

–Tracie Morris