Author
Clint Smith
Birth Date
August 25, 1988
(37 Years)
Associated Country
United States
Clint Smith is an American poet, scholar, and educator known for his work on history, race, and public memory. He was born in New Orleans and is an English professor and researcher whose work often focuses on how societies remember and confront histories of slavery and injustice.
Smith gained widespread recognition with his poetry collection Counting Descent (2016) and his nonfiction book How the Word Is Passed (2021), which explores the legacy of slavery across historical sites in the United States. The latter became a bestseller and received critical acclaim for its accessible yet deeply researched approach to American history.
His work spans poetry, essays, and public scholarship, and he is also known for his powerful spoken-word performances. Smith is widely regarded as an influential contemporary voice in discussions about history, memory, and racial justice.
Smith gained widespread recognition with his poetry collection Counting Descent (2016) and his nonfiction book How the Word Is Passed (2021), which explores the legacy of slavery across historical sites in the United States. The latter became a bestseller and received critical acclaim for its accessible yet deeply researched approach to American history.
His work spans poetry, essays, and public scholarship, and he is also known for his powerful spoken-word performances. Smith is widely regarded as an influential contemporary voice in discussions about history, memory, and racial justice.
Books
Above Ground 2026
Clint Smith’s vibrant and compelling new collection traverses the vast emotional terrain of fatherhood, and explores how becoming a parent has recalibrated his sense of the world. There are poems that...
Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads young readers through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are...
It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people. It is the...
The Fire This Time 2017
In light of recent tragedies and widespread protests across the nation, The Progressive magazine republished one of its most famous pieces: James Baldwin’s 1962 “Letter to My Nephew,” which was later...
Counting Descent 2016
In the intricate tapestry of Counting Descent, Clint Smith expertly navigates the nuances of belonging and dissonance. Through his poetic lens, he guides us through the labyrinthine experience of...