| Birth Date: | 13 December 1983 |
| Birth Place: | Viejas Reservation, California, United States |
| Occupation: | Writer, poet, and podcast host |
| Notable Works: | IRL, Nature Poem |
Tommy Pico (born December 13, 1983) is a Native American (Kumeyaay Nation) writer, poet, and podcast host.[1] [2]
Pico grew up on the Viejas Reservation of the Viejas Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians, a Kumeyaay tribe near San Diego. His father was a tribal chairman.[3] [4] At age five, Pico started writing comics, and as a teenager he created zines and wrote poetry.[5] His name in Kumeyaay means "bird song".[6]
Pico 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.
In 2008, Pico lived in Bushwick, Brooklyn. In 2019, Pico moved to Los Angeles with a friend of his.
In 2011, Pico was an inaugural mentor in the Queer/Art/Mentors programme;[2] [7] in 2013 he was a Lambda Literary Fellow in Poetry.[2] [8]
In 2016, Pico's first book IRL was published by the small press Birds, LLC.[9] IRL is written as one long text message, drawing on the epic tradition. 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.[10] IRL received critical acclaim and was included on best-of-the-year lists for 2016.[11] [12] In 2017, it received the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15] Nature Poem also received critical acclaim.[16] [17] [18] Pico followed Nature Poem with Junk in 2018 and Feed in 2019. Pico considers his four books as a series called the "Teebs tetralogy".[19] [20]
Pico co-curates the live reading series Poets With Attitude with Morgan Parker,[21] 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.[22] He also appears in the 2022 documentary series Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror.[23]
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.
He has written for TV shows including Reservation Dogs and Resident Alien.[24] Pico was chosen as a 2021 Sundance Institute Fellow.[24] [25]
In 2017, Pico's debut IRL received the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize.[13] his 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.[2]