Media Appearances & Reviews
"The book traces her life from the UK to Jamaica and America, giving an overview of her career in illustration and publishing, and details a truly extraordinary life of huge artistic merit."
– "Women Writing About Women: Must-Read Memoirs, Biographies, and Autobiographies" | BookRiot, December 10, 2020
“But few people know about the woman who illustrated the best selling deck of all time – Pamela Colman Smith. Professor Elizabeth Foley O’Connor and author Susan Wands explain why Pamela Colman Smith was uniquely suited to design tarot cards that stimulate our intuition and our imagination, and how the figures on the Rider-Waite (a.k.a. Smith-Waite) deck are based on a real troupe of famous actors.”
– “Episode 138: Queen of Tarot” | Imaginary Worlds Podcast, January 2020
“Known for her lively and enchanting Jamaican folklore performances, her publishing press and literary magazine, and for her extraordinary miniature theatre, Pamela – Pixie to her friends – wove magical worlds where women had agency and gender was fluid. But she was also a woman cloaked in mystery, and who was often Othered by her contemporaries. Join us, together with PCS scholar Elizabeth Foley O’Connor, as we travel from England to Jamaica, New York and Cornwall, tracing this elusive and enigmatic woman.”
– “Pamela Colman Smith” | Deviant Women Podcast, May 2019
“Through essays and full-color reproductions of her art, the book presents the first extensive study of her life. It explores her childhood in Jamaica, her involvement in Englishwomen’s suffrage, and her presence in literary circles that included the Yeats family — not to mention her vast, diverse artistic output. The book reveals a complex, talented woman whose efforts to overcome patriarchal structures in the 20th century are strikingly relevant in the 21st.”
– “Demystifying Pamela Colman Smith” | Shondaland, July 6, 2018
“Despite her contribution to the Rider-Waite deck, Smith’s work, which extends beyond tarot, has been largely obscured by history.”
– "Who was Pamela Colman Smith?" | The Lily / Washington Post, July 26, 2018
“The first essay is Elizabeth Foley O’Connor’s “Pamela’s Life,” which lays the groundwork for understanding Smith’s subjects and style relative to her personal life and the social and historical context in which she lived.”
– Book Review | Mythlore, 37.2 (April 2019)
“The work of Pamela Colman Smith is better known than her name: she was the artist of the Rider-Waite tarot (1909), named after its publisher, Rider, and its esoteric designer A. E. Waite.”
– “Tarot” | The Times Literary Supplement, November 2, 2018
“The book opens with an overview of Smith’s life that focuses on her creative endeavors outside of the visual arts, including her founding of the literary magazine The Green Sheaf.”
– Book Review | Publishers Weekly, July 2018
“By bringing together the work from different media and periods of her life, the authors present her as the multifaceted creator that she was, complete with discussions of her influences, ideals, aesthetics, and passions.”
– Book Review | Kirkus Review, July 1, 2018