Clara Sneed

Clara Sneed is an award‑winning author whose work blends literary fiction, family history, and the complex legacy of a real Texas feud. A descendant of the Sneed family, she draws on archival materials, court transcripts, and regional history to explore how stories — both public and private — shape identity across generations and continue to influence modern understandings of justice and belonging.

Her novel Before We Turn to Dust, winner of the Best of Los Angeles Award for Best Historical Crime Books (2026) and the Grand Prize from the Texas Authors Museum (2026), revisits the early‑twentieth‑century Sneed–Boyce scandal and transforms it into a multi‑voiced exploration of love, vengeance, and the narratives that justify violence. Her nonfiction book, Because This Is Texas, provides the historical foundation for the world her fiction inhabits.

Sneed’s work has been featured in the Family Lore podcast, the Hey Amarillo podcast, and multiple national press outlets. She writes from a deep commitment to historical truth, emotional honesty, and the belief that the past is never as distant — or as irrelevant to the present — as it may seem.