Poet Patricia Smith, winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize, will permanently join the Lewis Center for the Art’s Program in Creative Writing faculty at Princeton University in July. She has been appointed Professor of Creative Writing and will teach introductory and advanced poetry workshops.
Poet Patricia Smith, winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize. Photo Credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths
In 2021, the Poetry Foundation awarded Smith the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for her lifetime achievement in the genre. Smith is the author of nine books of poetry, including the recently published collection, Unshuttered; Incendiary Art, winner of the 2018 Kingsley Tufts Award for Poetry, the 2017 LA Times Book Prize, the 2018 NAACP Image Award and finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize; Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah, winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets; and Blood Dazzler, a National Book Award finalist. She has published three collaborations with award-winning visual artists: Gotta Go, Gotta Flow with Chicago photographer Michael Abramson, and the books Crowns and Death in the Desert with Sandro Miller. Her other books include the poetry volumes Teahouse of the Almighty, Close to Death, Big Towns Big Talk, and Life According to Motown; the children’s book Janna and the Kings; and the history volume Africans in America, a companion book to the award-winning PBS series. Smith’s work has appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, The Baffler, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Tin House and in the anthologies Best American Poetry and Best American Essays. She is currently at work on her first novel and second children’s picture book.
Smith is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and fellowships at Yaddo and MacDowell. As a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, she is the most successful poet in the competition’s history. In 2022 Smith was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she was recently named a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
“Patricia Smith is among a small number of American writers who have undoubtedly gained the prestige of being called a living legend,” said Yiyun Li, Director of the Program in Creative Writing. “One of the most magnetic poets in today’s literary landscape, Smith’s work has been called ‘a testament to the power of words to change lives.’ And by writing, performing, and teaching, she has electrified her readers and audiences and has exerted a long-lasting influence on subsequent generations. We are thrilled to welcome her as part of our community.”
Previously, Smith was a distinguished professor for the City University of New York and an instructor for Cave Canem and the Vermont College of Fine Arts Post-Graduate Writing Program. At Princeton, she has taught introductory and advanced poetry courses since fall of 2021 as a visiting professor. Currently, she is co-teaching the Princeton Atelier course, “How to Find a Missing Black Woman.” In the course, Smith, along with poet Mahogany Browne and choreographer Davalois Fearon, are collaborating with students to craft a multimedia theatrical production that calls attention to the problem of missing Black women and girls. This coming fall, she will teach advanced poetry workshops in the creative writing program.
Judith Hamera, Chair of the Lewis Center, adds, “Patricia Smith is an award-winning literary polymath of the highest order, an accomplished collaborator with renowned singers, musicians, directors, and photographers among others, and an indefatigable mentor of emerging artists: all qualities we in the LCA hold dear. We are so grateful she will be bringing this depth and wealth of energy and excellence to the Lewis Center as a Professor of Creative Writing.”
Members of the creative writing faculty include Michael Dickman, Katie Farris, Aleksandar Hemon, A.M. Homes, Ilya Kaminsky, Yiyun Li, Paul Muldoon, Kirstin Valdez Quade and Susan Wheeler, and a number of distinguished lecturers. Through the program’s courses, students have the opportunity to pursue original work at both introductory and advanced levels in fiction, poetry, screenwriting and translation under the guidance of these practicing, award-winning writers. Students can earn a certificate in creative writing, similar to a minor, in addition to their degree in a major. Each year 20 to 30 seniors work individually with a member of the faculty on a creative writing thesis, such as a novel, screenplay, or a collection of short stories, poems, or translations.
“I’m utterly grateful to the ‘village’ that led me here—the pump jockeys, grocery baggers, housewives, felons and poetry slammers who’ve shared witness; but mostly my students, who’ve energized me with the unbridled glee of discovery,” said Smith. “I’m constantly astonished by the work my Princeton classes have produced, and I look forward to creating new worlds with them.”
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about the Program in Creative Writing and the more than 100 performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, and lectures presented each year by the Lewis Center for the Arts, most of them free.
