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Meet the Team: Jordan Snowden

By July 2, 2026Staff

Meet Jordan Snowden, our Marketing Specialist

Jordan Snowden joined the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures team in May 2025 and hit the ground running with a keen eye for design and a playful, thoughtful approach to social media and marketing. If you’ve browsed our website, received one of our mailers, or admired a program poster around town, you’ve already seen Jordan’s work—and she’s just getting started. 

What did you do before Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures?

I’ve spent my career telling stories in one form or another and have interviewed a variety of intriguing humans, from bestselling novelists to indie musicians. Over the last decade, I’ve worked as a staff writer and music editor at Pittsburgh City Paper, published others’ work as the online editor at TABLE Magazine, and helped connect readers with books as part of the marketing team at Astra Publishing House. Along the way, I built a freelance writing career covering books, music, and culture, and these days, I split my time between marketing and writing. I’m a monthly crime and mystery columnist for The Seattle Times, and I occasionally contribute features to a handful of publications. Even less occasionally, I post to my bookstagram, which was my COVID obsession.

What drew you to work at PA&L?

Books have been the throughline of my life for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I regularly attended library book clubs, though I almost never spoke. I was painfully shy. Instead, I sat in the back and listened. There was something magical about being in a room full of people talking about stories and hearing how the same book could mean something entirely different to each reader, how the same words could comfort one person, challenge another, or completely change the way someone saw the world. I didn’t need to be part of the conversation to feel its impact. Simply being surrounded by people who loved books filled my cup.

That’s what drew me to Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures. At its heart, PA&L creates community around literature. It brings readers together, encourages thoughtful conversation, and reminds us that books don’t end when we turn the final page—they continue through the ideas we exchange and the connections we make with one another. Getting to help foster those conversations and introduce people to new writers and perspectives feels like a natural extension of everything I’ve loved about books since I was a kid.

What are some of your aspirations for this role?

My goal is to make every lecture feel approachable and exciting, especially for people who may not think literary events are “for them.” If someone discovers a new favorite author, attends their first lecture, or simply feels more connected to Pittsburgh’s literary community because of something I created, that’s a pretty great day at work.

Tell us more about you—what are some of your favorite pastimes?

Reading is probably the least surprising answer, but it’s true. Lately I’ve been flying through audiobooks, mostly because they’re the easiest way to fit reading into life with an infant and a toddler. That said, I’m a die-hard physical book girly. As hard as I try, I just can’t get into ebooks. I crave, no, need, that tactile sensation of fingertips on paper. 

Ok, I’ll stop talking about books now. I enjoy other things, too (I promise!), which include, and are not limited to: my kids, hula hooping, gaming (cozy games are the go-to), blasting music, crafting, being in and around bodies of water, taking photos, thrifting, baking, traveling, and lying in the sun.

The age-old question: If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have three books, which would you bring?

I can’t answer this question because it immediately transports me back to March 2020, when my now-husband insisted we pack a go-bag “in case sh*t gets really bad and we have to flee.” While he was gathering flashlights and first-aid supplies, I was sitting on the floor in front of my bookshelves in a full-blown existential crisis, trying to decide which books deserved to survive the apocalypse with me. I couldn’t do it then, and I can’t do it now. Asking me to choose just three books is, frankly, an act of violence.

And finally, what are you currently reading?

Palaver by Bryan Washington (physical book), Dodge City by Patrick DeWitt (audiobook), Building 903 by Lois Lowry (audiobook), The Man by Laura Sims (physical book), and Sex With Strangers by Michael Lowenthal (physical book).

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