Felicia Pride

Felicia Pride is an American author, screenwriter, producer, and director. She is the author of six books, including the young adult novel Patterson Heights. Pride has written for the television shows Queen Sugar and Grey's Anatomy. Her 2020 directorial debut tender received the STARZ/Lionsgate Short Film Award at the 2020 BlackStar Film Festival.

Early life and education Pride was born in 1979 in Baltimore, Maryland. Her family moved to West Orange, New Jersey when she was young. She lived there until the age of eleven before returning to Baltimore to complete middle and high school. She attended Towson University where she studied marketing. Pride received her master's degree in writing and publishing from Emerson College in 2005.

Career Books Pride began her writing career in 2001, writing for the community newspaper Black Reign News based in Staten Island, New York. Over the period of 15 years, Pride has authored six books. Her motivational book of essays, The Message: Life Lessons from Hip-Hop's Greatest Songs was published in 2007. The book has been used as a teaching tool in classrooms across the country and was re-issued by NBCUniversal. Her young adult novel, Patterson Heights was a 2010 American Library Association Pick for Reluctant Readers.

TV and film Pride's first written film was the dramatic short The End Again (2014) starring Columbus Short and Tanee McCall, directed by Crystal C. Roberson and co-produced with Latisha Fortune. The film was written as a prequel to the in-production feature film OpenEnded is in production. Pride was selected as a Film Independent Screenwriting Fellow in 2016.

Pride joined her first writer's room for the fourth season of Queen Sugar, and was also the story editor for the show's fifth season. She is also on the writing staff of the seventeenth season of Grey's Anatomy. The film received the STARZ/Lionsgate Short Film Award at the 2020 BlackStar Film Festival. That year she also co-wrote and executive produced her first feature drama film Really Love, which received a Special Jury Recognition for Acting award at SXSW 2020.

Television

Accolades 2010 – Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers, American Library Association (for Patterson Heights) 2013 – Media Fellow at the Center for Media & Social Impact, American University 2013 – Writers in School Resident, PEN/Faulkner Foundation 2016 – Screenwriting Fellow, Film Independent 2017 – Writers on the Verge, NBC

Awards and nominations