Pat Schneider (June 1, 1934 – August 10, 2020) was an American writer, poet, writing teacher and editor.

She was educated at Central Methodist College in Missouri, and earned her MA from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.

Schneider has been adjunct faculty member of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.

She has taught in Ireland, in Japan, and at the Graduate Theological Union in California, where she has also been playwright in residence and led annual and bi-annual workshops at the Pacific School of Religion.

She has also led workshops in Smith College's School for Social Work and for residents of public housing in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

How the cup holds the tea, How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare, How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes Or toes.

I’ve been thinking about the patience Of ordinary things, how clothes Wait respectfully in closets And soap dries quietly in the dish, And towels drink the wet From the skin of the back.

Wake Up Laughing: A Spiritual Autobiography, Negative Capability Press, Mobile, Alabama, 1997.

[14] "Schneider’s honesty and courage in recounting her journey encourages readers to boldly examine unexpected stops and turns in their own lives, a heady task for any book.”[15] In Our Own Voices: Writing by Women in Low-Income Housing.

Widely produced by the New World Choir throughout New England including television production and more than 100 performances at community centers and universities.

[18] Schneider began to develop the AWA method for teaching writing in workshops and other groups in 1979.

[19] Working with a community of writers in Amherst, Massachusetts, she explored ways to conduct a writing class/workshop that would honor the "primary voice," encouraging students to trust what the writer John Edgar Wideman has called "the language of home.

"[20] In 1985, Schneider offered workshops to women living in public housing in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

[21] Schneider chose to develop the workshop for women in public housing because she believes "there is no difference between the rich and the poor in this: writing is art, and our own stories are the stuff of which our freedom is made, our self esteem, our power.