Patricia Smith

Patricia Smith is a poet, teacher, and performance artist. She is the author of UNSHUTTERED; INCENDIARY ART, winner of the 2018 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Award in Poetry; SHOULDA BEEN JIMI SAVANNAH, winner of the 2013 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets, given for the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States each year; BLOOD DAZZLER, which was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award; TEAHOUSE OF THE ALMIGHTY, a 2005 National Poetry Series selection; CLOSE TO DEATH; BIG TOWNS, BIG TALK, which won the Carl Sandburg Literary Award; and LIFE ACCORDING TO MOTOWN. In January 2023, Smith was elected to become a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.