Lee Smith (author)
Encyclopedia
Lee Smith is an American
fiction
author
who typically incorporates much of her home roots in the Southeastern United States
in her works of literature. She has received many writing awards, such as the O. Henry
Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Fiction, and the North Carolina Award for Literature. Her novel The Last Girls was listed on the New York Times bestseller's list and won the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. Mrs Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, a collection of new and selected stories was published in 2010.
, a small coal-mining town in the Appalachian Mountains
, less than 10 miles from the Kentucky
border. The Smith home sat on Main Street, and the Levisa Fork River
ran just behind it. Her mother, Gig, was a college graduate who had come to Grundy to teach school. Her father, Ernest, was the long time owner/operator of a Ben Franklin store in Grundy.
Growing up in the Appalachian Mountains of southwestern
Virginia
, nine-year-old Lee Smith was already writing—and selling, for a nickel apiece—stories about her neighbors in the coal boomtown of Grundy and the nearby isolated "hollers." After spending her last two years of high school at St. Catherine's School
in Richmond, Virginia
, Smith enrolled at Hollins College
in Roanoke
. She and fellow student Annie Dillard
(the well-known essayist and novelist) became go-go dancers
for an all-girl rock band, the Virginia Woolfs. In 1966, her senior year at Hollins, Smith submitted an early draft of a coming-of-age novel to a Book-of-the-Month Club contest and was awarded one of twelve fellowships. Two years later, that novel, The Last Day the Dog Bushes Bloomed (Harper & Row, 1968), became Smith's first published work of fiction.
Since 1968, she has published fifteen novels, as well as four collections of short stories
, and has received eight major writing awards.
In 1974 Smith and her family moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina
, where she finished Black Mountain Breakdown (1981), a much darker work than her readers had come to expect. Next she turned her attention to short stories, for which she won O. Henry Awards in 1978 and 1980. Smith published her first collection of short stories Cakewalk in 1981. It was also about this time that her marriage broke up, and she accepted a teaching job at North Carolina State University
in Raleigh
, where she taught for many years. In 1983 her fifth novel, Oral History, became a Book-of-the-Month Club featured selection, exposing Smith for the first time to a wide national audience. In 1985 she published Family Linen and married journalist Hal Crowther, to whom she dedicated the new book.
Since then, Smith has published Fair and Tender Ladies
(1988) and Me and My Baby View the Eclipse (1990), her second book of short stories. In 1992 she published The Devil's Dream, a generational saga about a family of country musicians; in 1995 her ninth novel, Saving Grace, and in 1996 the novella The Christmas Letters, her eleventh work of fiction. News of the Spirit, a collection of stories and novellas was published in 1997. She published New York Times Bestseller The Last Girls in 2002. On Agate Hill (2006), is set in the piedmont South during Reconstruction.
Lee Smith currently lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
who typically incorporates much of her home roots in the Southeastern United States
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
in her works of literature. She has received many writing awards, such as the O. Henry
O. Henry
O. Henry was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter . O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.-Early life:...
Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Fiction, and the North Carolina Award for Literature. Her novel The Last Girls was listed on the New York Times bestseller's list and won the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. Mrs Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, a collection of new and selected stories was published in 2010.
Early life and education
Lee Smith was born in 1944 in Grundy, VirginiaGrundy, Virginia
Grundy is a town in Buchanan County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,105 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Buchanan County. The town is noted for its educational institutions and their role in the town's economic rebirth. In the past, the town served as a stopover for Union...
, a small coal-mining town in the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
, less than 10 miles from the Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
border. The Smith home sat on Main Street, and the Levisa Fork River
Levisa Fork River
The Levisa Fork is a tributary of the Big Sandy River, approximately long, in southwestern Virginia and eastern Kentucky in the United States....
ran just behind it. Her mother, Gig, was a college graduate who had come to Grundy to teach school. Her father, Ernest, was the long time owner/operator of a Ben Franklin store in Grundy.
Growing up in the Appalachian Mountains of southwestern
Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virginia counties on the Appalachian Plateau, all Virginia counties west of the Eastern Continental Divide, or...
Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, nine-year-old Lee Smith was already writing—and selling, for a nickel apiece—stories about her neighbors in the coal boomtown of Grundy and the nearby isolated "hollers." After spending her last two years of high school at St. Catherine's School
St. Catherine's School, Richmond, Virginia
St. Catherine's School is an independent Episcopal diocesan school for girls in grades junior kindergarten through 12th grade. It is the oldest private, all-girls school in Richmond, Va. and the only independent all-girls school in Virginia for junior kindergarten - 12th grade. St. Catherine's is...
in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, Smith enrolled at Hollins College
Hollins University
Hollins University is a four-year institution of higher education, a private university located on a campus on the border of Roanoke County, Virginia and Botetourt County, Virginia...
in Roanoke
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
. She and fellow student Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard is an American author, best known for her narrative prose in both fiction and non-fiction. She has published works of poetry, essays, prose, and literary criticism, as well as two novels and one memoir. Her 1974 work Pilgrim at Tinker Creek won the 1974 Pulitzer Prize for General...
(the well-known essayist and novelist) became go-go dancers
Go-Go dancing
Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at a discotheque. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s when women at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City began to get up on tables and dance the twist...
for an all-girl rock band, the Virginia Woolfs. In 1966, her senior year at Hollins, Smith submitted an early draft of a coming-of-age novel to a Book-of-the-Month Club contest and was awarded one of twelve fellowships. Two years later, that novel, The Last Day the Dog Bushes Bloomed (Harper & Row, 1968), became Smith's first published work of fiction.
Since 1968, she has published fifteen novels, as well as four collections of short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
, and has received eight major writing awards.
Career
Following her graduation from Hollins, Smith married James Seay, a poet and teacher, whom she accompanied from university to university as his teaching assignments changed. She kept busy writing reviews for local papers and raising two little boys, but found little time for her own fiction. By 1971, though, she'd completed her second novel, Something in the Wind, which garnered generally favorable reviews. But her next novel, Fancy Strut (1973), was widely praised by critics as a comic masterpiece.In 1974 Smith and her family moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
, where she finished Black Mountain Breakdown (1981), a much darker work than her readers had come to expect. Next she turned her attention to short stories, for which she won O. Henry Awards in 1978 and 1980. Smith published her first collection of short stories Cakewalk in 1981. It was also about this time that her marriage broke up, and she accepted a teaching job at North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
in Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
, where she taught for many years. In 1983 her fifth novel, Oral History, became a Book-of-the-Month Club featured selection, exposing Smith for the first time to a wide national audience. In 1985 she published Family Linen and married journalist Hal Crowther, to whom she dedicated the new book.
Since then, Smith has published Fair and Tender Ladies
Fair and Tender Ladies
Fair and Tender Ladies is a novel written by Lee Smith. It was published in 1988 and won the W.D. Weatherford Award that year....
(1988) and Me and My Baby View the Eclipse (1990), her second book of short stories. In 1992 she published The Devil's Dream, a generational saga about a family of country musicians; in 1995 her ninth novel, Saving Grace, and in 1996 the novella The Christmas Letters, her eleventh work of fiction. News of the Spirit, a collection of stories and novellas was published in 1997. She published New York Times Bestseller The Last Girls in 2002. On Agate Hill (2006), is set in the piedmont South during Reconstruction.
Lee Smith currently lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina
Hillsborough, North Carolina
Hillsborough is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,653 at the 2008 census. It is the county seat of Orange County....
.
External links
- Lee Smith - the official author website
- Audio: Lee Smith at the Key West Literary Seminar, 2008: Keynote Address
- Audio: Lee Smith at the Key West Literary Seminar, 2005: "Humor"
- The Burwell School Historic Site
- LibraryThing author profile
- "Obsessive love: Lee Smith happy to be back in town" article in the Hook weeklyThe Hook weeklyThe Hook is a weekly newspaper published in Charlottesville, Virginia and distributed throughout Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. It was founded in 2002 by a number of former employees of another Charlottesville weekly, C-ville Weekly, including its co-founder and editor Hawes Spencer.In...
- Lee Smith reading on November 15, 2006: Blackbird: An Online Journal of Literature and the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Volume 5, No. 2 (Fall 2006)