Wikipedia

Pagan Kennedy

Pagan Kennedy (born c. 1963)[1] is an American columnist and author, and pioneer of the 1990s zine movement.[2]

Pagan Kennedy
BornPamela Kennedy
OccupationAuthor, columnist
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWesleyan University
Johns Hopkins University
PartnerKevin Bruyneel
Website
www.pagankennedy.space

She has written ten books in a variety of genres,[3] was a regular contributor to Boston Globe, and has published articles in dozens of magazines and newspapers.[4][5] In 2012–13, she was a The New York Times Magazine columnist.

Early life and education

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Born Pamela Kennedy around 1963, she grew up in suburban Washington, D.C. She graduated from Wesleyan University in 1984, and later spent a year in the Masters of Fine Arts program at Johns Hopkins University.[citation needed]

Career

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Kennedy's autobiographical zine Pagan's Head detailed her life during her twenties.[1]

In 2007, Kennedy wrote a biography called The First Man-Made Man about Michael Dillon, a British physician and author who in the mid-1940s became the first successful case of female-to-male sex change treatment that included a phalloplasty (the surgical construction of a penis).[6]

In July 2012, Kennedy was named design columnist for The New York Times Magazine.[7] Her column, "Who Made That", detailed the origins of a wide variety of things, such as the cubicle[8] and the home pregnancy test.[9] Kennedy resigned from the column after signing a contract with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to write a book, Inventology.[citation needed]

In 2020, Kennedy's investigation into the history of the first rape kit written for The New York Times, "The Rape Kit's Secret History", received national media attention.[10][11][12] It led to a revival of interest surrounding Marty Goddard's story, including the auction of an early rape kit at Sotheby's.[13] Kennedy went on to write a full-length book about the rape kit, which is forthcoming from Vintage Books in 2025.[14]

Teaching

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Kennedy was a visiting professor of creative writing at Dartmouth College,[15] and taught fiction and nonfiction writing at Boston College, Johns Hopkins University, and many other conferences and residencies.

Personal life

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An ovarian cancer survivor,[16] Kennedy currently lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with her partner, Kevin Bruyneel. She previously lived with filmmaker Liz Canner, in a relationship she has described as similar to a Boston marriage.[17]

Awards

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Kennedy was a 2010 Knight Science Journalism fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and she was named the 2010/2011 Creative Nonfiction grant winner by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She has also been the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in fiction, a Sonora Review fiction prize, and a Smithsonian Fellowship for science writing. [citation needed]

Bibliography

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Novels

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  • —— (1995). Spinsters. High Risk Books. ISBN 9781852424053.
  • —— (1998). The Exes. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780684834818.
  • —— (2006). Confessions of a Memory Eater (paperback 1st ed.). Leapfrog Press. ISBN 9780972898485.[18]

Collections

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Nonfiction

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Anthologies

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Short stories

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  • Elvis's Bathroom (1989)

References

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  1. ^ a b MacLaughlin, Nina (2006-06-27). "The pornography of pharmacology". The Boston Phoenix. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  2. ^ Harvey Blume (2009-01-04). "Wired 4.01: Zine Queen". Wired. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  3. ^ "Pagan Kennedy: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle". Amazon. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  4. ^ "Pagan Kennedy (Author of The Exes)". Goodreads.com. 2011-02-26. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  5. ^ "Pagan Kennedy in conversation with Noel King". Jacketmagazine.com. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  6. ^ Roach, Mary (18 March 2007). "Girls Will Be Boys". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-03-05. Retrieved 25 March 2007.
  7. ^ Chris O'Shea, "Pagan Kennedy Named New York Times Magazine Design Columnist", Mediabistro, July 6, 2012.
  8. ^ Kennedy, Pagan (2012-06-22). "Who Made That Cubicle?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-09-10.
  9. ^ Kennedy, Pagan (2012-07-27). "Who Made That Home Pregnancy Test?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-09-10.
  10. ^ Kennedy, Pagan (2020-06-17). "Opinion | There Are Many Man-Made Objects. The Rape Kit Is Not One of Them". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  11. ^ "What happened when a journalist tracked the origins of the rape evidence kit". Nieman Foundation. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  12. ^ "History Forgot the Woman Who Invented Rape Kits". Jezebel. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  13. ^ "The Martha Goddard Rape-Proving Evidence Collection Kit". Sotheby's.
  14. ^ "Fall 2024 Adult Preview: History". Publisher's Weekly.
  15. ^ Levy, Alison. "‘Jill-of-all-trades’ Kennedy to join creative writing faculty," The Dartmouth (May 1, 2008).
  16. ^ Kennedy, Pagan (1 June 2014). 'Zine. Santa Fe Writer's Project. ISBN 9781939650160 – via Google Books.
  17. ^ "From The Issue : June-July 2001". www.msmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  18. ^ Hannah Tucker (2006-06-28). "Confessions of a Memory Eater". EW.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2007. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  19. ^ Russo, Maria (10 February 2002). "Stranger in a Native Land". New York Times.
  20. ^ "Black Livingstone Author Finds Unexpected Link". National Geographic. 2010-10-28. Archived from the original on April 12, 2002. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  21. ^ Julie Foster (2007-03-18). "Pioneer of sex change surgery". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
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