Pagan Kennedy
Encyclopedia
Pagan Kennedy is an author and pioneer of the 1990s zine
movement, along with writer/publishers like Lisa Crystal Carver
of Rollerderby, Jim Goad
of ANSWER Me!
and Larry Crane
of Tape Op
. Her autobiographical zine Pagan's Head detailed her life. The author of ten books in a variety of genres, she is "[a] regular contributor to the Boston Globe, and has published articles in dozens of magazines and newspapers, including several sections of The New York Times
" and the Boston Magazine
. She has served as a visiting professor of creating writing at Dartmouth College
. She also has taught writing -- fiction and nonfiction -- at Boston College
, Johns Hopkins University
, and many other conferences and residencies.
Born as Pamela Kennedy, she graduated from Wesleyan University
in 1984, and later spent a year in the Masters of Fine Arts program at Johns Hopkins University. A native of suburban Washington DC, Kennedy currently lives in Somerville, Massachusetts
, with her partner, Kevin Bruyneel. She previously lived with filmmaker Liz Canner
in a set-up she has described as similar to a Boston marriage
.
She wrote a biography, The First Man-Made Man, about Michael Dillon
who, in the 1940s, survived the world's first female-to-male sex change
treatment and established himself as a medical student. It describes how he later fell in love with a male-to-female transsexual, Roberta Cowell
, who was at the time the only other transsexual in Britain.
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
movement, along with writer/publishers like Lisa Crystal Carver
Lisa Crystal Carver
Lisa Crystal Carver , also known as Lisa Suckdog, is an American writer known for her writing in Rollerderby. Through her interviews, she introduced the work of Vaginal Davis, Dame Darcy, Cindy Dall, Boyd Rice, Costes , Nick Zedd, GG Allin, Kate Landau, Queen Itchie & Liz Armstrong to many...
of Rollerderby, Jim Goad
Jim Goad
Jim Goad is an American author and publisher. Goad co-authored and published the cult zine ANSWER Me! and The Redneck Manifesto. Known for his controversial political and socially charged viewpoints, Goad's work has been described as "compelling", "brutally honest" and "original" by author Chuck...
of ANSWER Me!
ANSWER Me!
ANSWER Me! is a discontinued magazine which was edited by Jim and Debbie Goad and published between 1991 and 1994. Extremely misanthropic in its editorial content, it focused on the social pathologies of interest to the Los Angeles–based couple. The magazine was a major source of inspiration for...
and Larry Crane
Larry Crane
Larry Crane is an American editor, recording engineer and archivist based in Portland, Oregon. Crane is the editor and founder of Tape Op Magazine, the owner of Portland's Jackpot! Recording Studio, a freelance engineer, and the archivist for musician Elliott Smith.-Career:Tape Op was started in...
of Tape Op
Tape Op
Tape Op is a recording magazine that focuses on creative recording techniques. Subtitled, "The Creative Music Recording Magazine," It is free to subscribers in the United States and United Kingdom, as well as offering paid subscriptions to the United States of America, all of Europe, Canada,...
. Her autobiographical zine Pagan's Head detailed her life. The author of ten books in a variety of genres, she is "[a] regular contributor to the Boston Globe, and has published articles in dozens of magazines and newspapers, including several sections of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
" and the Boston Magazine
Boston magazine
Boston is a monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area and has been in publication for more than 40 years.-About the magazine:The magazine is self-described as:...
. She has served as a visiting professor of creating writing at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
. She also has taught writing -- fiction and nonfiction -- at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
, Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, and many other conferences and residencies.
Born as Pamela Kennedy, she graduated from Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
in 1984, and later spent a year in the Masters of Fine Arts program at Johns Hopkins University. A native of suburban Washington DC, Kennedy currently lives in Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
, with her partner, Kevin Bruyneel. She previously lived with filmmaker Liz Canner
Liz Canner
Liz Canner is an award winning American filmmaker who makes documentaries, digital public art installations and new media projects on human rights issues. She often employs cutting edge technologies to explore social issues from a new perspective. A prime example of this is her critically...
in a set-up she has described as similar to a Boston marriage
Boston marriage
Boston marriage as a term is said to have been in use in New England in the decades spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries to describe two women living together, independent of financial support from a man. The term was little known until the debut in 2000 of the David Mamet play of the...
.
She wrote a biography, The First Man-Made Man, about Michael Dillon
Michael Dillon
Laurence Michael Dillon was a British physician and the first female-to-male transsexual to undergo phalloplasty. His brother, Sir Robert Dillon, was the eighth Baronet of Lismullen in Ireland....
who, in the 1940s, survived the world's first female-to-male sex change
Sex change
Sex change is a term often used for gender reassignment therapy, that is, all medical procedures transgendered people can have, or specifically to sexual reassignment surgery, which usually refers to genitalia surgery only...
treatment and established himself as a medical student. It describes how he later fell in love with a male-to-female transsexual, Roberta Cowell
Roberta Cowell
Roberta Cowell, , was the first known British male-to-female transsexual to undergo sex reassignment surgery.Born Robert Cowell, she was a Spitfire pilot in World War II and a racing driver after the war. She had a vaginoplasty on 15 May 1951, via a surgical method invented and performed by Dr...
, who was at the time the only other transsexual in Britain.
Novels
- Spinsters (1995) (shortlisted for 1996 Orange Prize)
- The Exes (1998)
- Confessions of a Memory Eater (2006)
Non fiction
- Platforms: A Microwaved Cultural Chronicle of the 1970s (1994)
- Pagan Kennedy's Living: Handbook for Ageing Hipsters (1997)
- Black Livingstone: A True Tale of Adventure in the Nineteenth-Century Congo (2002) (New York Times Notable list and Massachusetts Book Award honors)
- The First Man-Made Man: The Story of Two Sex Changes, One Love Affair, and a Twentieth-Century Medical Revolution (2007)
- The Dangerous Joy of Dr. Sex and Other True Stories (2008)
Anthologies containing stories by Pagan Kennedy
- The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Eighth Annual Collection (1995)
- The Best Creative Nonfiction Volume 2 (2008)
External links
- Official Pagan Kennedy site
- "So, Are You Two Together?" - Ms. MagazineMs. magazineMs. is an American feminist magazine co-founded by American feminist and activist Gloria Steinem and founding editor Letty Cottin Pogrebin together with founding editors Patricia Carbine, Joanne Edgar, Nina Finkelstein, and Mary Peacock, that first appeared in 1971 as an insert in New York magazine...
article by Pagan Kennedy. - 1998 Publisher's Weekly profile
- Website for The Dangerous Joy of Dr. Sex