Tommy Pico
Tommy Pico is an indigenous (Kumeyaay Nation) writer, poet, and podcast host, born December 13, 1983.[1]
Early life[]
Pico grew up on the Viejas Reservation of the Kumeyaay nation, near San Diego. His father was a reservation chairman.[2][3] Pico started writing comics at age 5, and as a teenager created zines and wrote poetry.[4] His name in Kumeyaay means "bird song".[5]
He attended Sarah Lawrence College, where he studied pre-med with the intention of returning to the reservation as a doctor. He decided not to pursue medicine and moved to New York City, where he worked as a barista in Williamsburg and started writing poetry.[2]
In 2008, Pico lived in Bushwick, Brooklyn.[4] In 2019, Pico moved to Los Angeles with a friend of his.[5]
Work[]
In 2016, Pico's first book IRL was published by the small press Birds, LLC.[6] IRL is written as one long text message, drawing on the epic tradition.[4] Pico's poem was written in first-person narration, from the perspective of Teebs. Teebs is a fictional character writing about fictional events, however, the character parallels as Pico's alter-ego and is used as a nickname.[7] IRL received critical acclaim and was included on best-of-the-year lists for 2016.[8][9] In 2017, it received the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize.[10]
Pico's second book, Nature Poem was published in 2017 by Tin House. Nature Poem, like IRL, was written from the perspective of Pico's alter ego and fictional character, Teebs.[11] Pico again used the epic format, in this case to explore and challenge stereotypes of Native Americans as "noble savages" who are one with nature.[12] Nature Poem also received critical acclaim.[13][14][15] Pico followed Nature Poem with Junk in 2018 and Feed in 2019. Pico considers his four books as a series called the "Teebs tetralogy".[16][17]
Pico co-curates the live reading series Poets With Attitude with Morgan Parker,[18] and he is the co-host of the podcast Food 4 Thot, a podcast about queer identity, race, sex, relationships, literature, and pop culture. He is also the co-host of the podcast Scream, Queen! with Drea Washington. Scream, Queen discusses marginalized people and horror films.[19][17]
In 2018, Pico was commissioned to create soundscapes for New York City's High Line park and a walking tour of Seattle for Vignettes Gallery and Gramma Press.[17]
He has written for TV shows including Reservation Dogs and Resident Alien.[20][21] Pico was chosen as a 2021 Sundance Institute Fellow.[22]
Awards[]
Pico's second book, Nature Poem, was the winner of a 2018 American Book Award and finalist for the 2018 Lambda Literary Award. He was a 2018 Whiting Award Winner for poetry.
Bibliography[]
- IRL (2016, Birds, LLC: ISBN 9780991429868)[23]
- Nature Poem (2017, Tin House: ISBN 9781941040638)[24]
- Junk (2018, Tin House: ISBN 9781941040973)[25]
- Feed (2019, Tin House: ISBN 978-1-947793-57-6)[26]
References[]
- ^ "Meet Tommy Pico, the Native American, Beyonce-loving poet". Interview Magazine. 2018-03-27. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ^ a b Moskowitz, Peter (September 9, 2016). "The Anger and Joy of a Native-American Poet in Brooklyn". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
- ^ "Tommy Pico". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
- ^ a b c Street, Mikelle (February 14, 2018). "All Media All Star". The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ a b "On not wasting any time". thecreativeindependent.com. Retrieved 2021-11-17.
- ^ Knapp, Michaelsun Stonesweat. "The Saturday Rumpus Interview with Tommy Pico". The Rumpus. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "A Conversation with Tommy 'Teebs' Pico". Cordite Poetry Review. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2021-11-17.
- ^ "Best of 2016: Best Poetry Books & Collections". Entropy Magazine. November 30, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "Literary Hub's Best Books of 2016:Our 35 Favorite Books of the Year". Literary Hub. December 20, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "The Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize". Brooklyn Public Library. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ Osmundson, Joseph. "'Not Waiting for Inspiration': An Interview with Tommy Pico". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 2021-11-17.
- ^ "Tommy Pico's New Book Confronts American Indian Stereotypes". NYLON. May 9, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "PW Picks: Books of the Week, May 8, 2017". Publishers Weekly. May 5, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "Destruction and Deconstruction in Tommy Pico's Nature Poem". Los Angeles Review of Books. May 9, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ Cornum, Lou (May 11, 2017). "Brooklyn is a Broken Land: on Tommy Pico's Nature Poem". Brooklyn Magazine. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ Burt, Stephanie (27 November 2019). "Tommy Pico's 'Feed': A Book-Length Meditation on Modern Appetites". New York Times. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- ^ a b c Vinson, Arriel (5 November 2019). "Poetry Can Give You What You're Hungry For". Electric Lit. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- ^ "The Archive Project - Dawn Lundy Martin, Morgan Parker, Danez Smith". KUOW. February 14, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
- ^ "Food 4 Thot". Food 4 Thot. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "Reservation Dogs (TV Series 2021– )". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
- ^ Monday; May 10th; 2021. "Sundance Institute Names 20 Fellows Across Feature Film Directors and Screenwriters Labs, Native LabCustomized Support for Emerging Creators, in Collaborative Digital Environment". www.sundance.org. Retrieved 2021-06-24.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
- ^ Saperstein, Pat (2021-05-10). "Sundance Institute Names Fellows for Directors, Screenwriters, Native Labs". Variety. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
- ^ Pico, Tommy (2016). IRL. Birds, LLC. ISBN 9780991429868. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
- ^ Pico, Tommy (2017). Nature Poem. Tin House. ISBN 9781941040638.
- ^ Pico, Tommy (2018). Junk. Tin House. ISBN 9781941040973.
- ^ Pico, Tommy (2019). Feed. Tin House. ISBN 9781947793576.
External links[]
- 21st-century American poets
- Living people
- People of Kumeyaay descent
- American male poets
- 21st-century American male writers
- Poets from California
- Sarah Lawrence College alumni
- Native American poets
- 21st-century Native Americans
- American LGBT poets
- LGBT Native Americans
- American gay writers