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 11, 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. Pride was selected as a Film Independent Screenwriting Fellow in 2016.
Pride joined her first writer's room for the fourth season of drama series Queen Sugar, and was also the story editor for the show's fifth season. She is also on the writing staff of the 17th season of medical drama TV series Grey's Anatomy.
Her directorial debut was the 2020 short film Tender, about two Black women in the aftermath of a one-night stand. The film received the STARZ/Lionsgate Short Film Award at the 2020 BlackStar Film Festival. That year, Pride 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.
In April 2021, it was announced that her romantic drama script, Like It's the Last, is in development by Will Packer and James Lopez, and Pride is also an executive producer on the project.
Works Books The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop's Greatest Songs (2007) Hallway Diaries (2007) Everybody Hates Chris: Everybody Hates First Girlfriends (2007) Everybody Hates Chris: Everybody Hates School Politics (2008) Patterson Heights (2009) To Create: Black Writers, Filmmakers, Storytellers, Artists and Media Makers Riff on Art, Careers, Life, and the Beautiful Mess in Between (2012) The Message: Life Lessons from Hip-Hop's Greatest Songs (reissued; 2012) The Educator's Guide to The Message: A Digital Companion (2012)
Short fiction "Geraldine's Song", in It's All Love: Black Writers on Soul Mates Family and Friends, edited by Marita Golden (2009)
Filmography Film Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes2014The End Again Short film2020tenderShort filmReally LoveCo-written with Kristi Angel Williams 2023Look Back at ItShort film
Television Year Title Creator Writer Executiveproducer Notes2019–2021Queen Sugar2020–2022Grey's Anatomy 2024–2025Bel-Air 2026A Different World
Accolades 2010 – Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers, American Library Association (for Patterson Heights)2010 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2013 – Media Fellow at the Center for Media & Social Impact, American UniversitySpeaker Bios Stem+Woman 2013 – Writers in School Resident, PEN/Faulkner FoundationFelicia Pride- Pen/Faulkner Foundation 2016 – Screenwriting Fellow, Film Independent 2017 – Writers on the Verge, NBC
Awards and nominations YearAwardCategoryWorkResult2020BlackStar Film FestivalSTARZ/Lionsgate Short Film Awardtender
References
External links Official website