Danez Smith is an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, poet, writer and performer from

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. They are

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

and

HIV-positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the ...

. They are the author of the

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

collections '' nsertBoy'' and ''Don't Call Us Dead: Poems'', both of which have received multiple awards. Their most recent poetry collection ''Homie'' was published on January 21, 2020.

Early life and education

Smith was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and attended Central High School. They grew up with their mother and grandparents in the Selby Neighborhood. Their family is from

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Smith has said that they struggled with reading up until the third grade. A teacher told them that being able to read would allow them to read video-game magazines, which inspired Smith. Smith was a First Wave Urban Arts Scholar at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, graduating with a BA in 2012.

Career

Smith is a founding member of Dark Noise Collective with Fatimah Asghar,

Franny Choi Franny Choi (born February 11, 1989) is an American writer, poet and playwright. Personal life Choi lived in Northampton, Massachusetts and now resides in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Her fascination with poetry began when she was in the third or f ...

, Nate Marshall, Aaron Samuels, and

Jamila Woods Jamila Woods (born October 6, 1989) is a Chicago-based American singer, songwriter and poet. Woods is a graduate of St. Ignatius College Prep and Brown University, where she received a BA in Africana Studies and Theater & Performance Studies. He ...

. With

, Smith joined

Macklemore Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; (formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper and songwriter. A native of Seattle, Washington, he has collaborated with producer Ryan Lewi ...

for a performance on ''

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second it ...

'' in February, 2016. Their writing has been published in ''Poetry'' (magazine) and ''

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bos ...

''. On March 30, 2017, Smith was the inaugural guest of the Alexander Lawrence Posey Speaker Series at the

University of Central Oklahoma The University of Central Oklahoma (UCO or Central State) is a public university in Edmond, Oklahoma. It is the third largest university in Oklahoma, with more than 17,000 students and approximately 434 full-time and 400 adjunct faculty. Founde ...

. Smith is the author of three books. '' nsertBoy'' won the 2014

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

for Gay Poetry, with jurist Chase Twitchell describing Smith's poetry as "remarkable for its nervy, surprising, morally urgent poems." '' nsertBoy'' was also selected as a

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

Best Poetry Book in 2014. Smith's second book, ''Don't Call Us Dead: Poems'', was a finalist for the 2017

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

for

. Their third book, ''Homie'', was a finalist for the 2020

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

for Poetry. Smith is also the author of two

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

s, ''hands on your knees'' (2013, Penmanship Books) and ''black movie'' (2015,

Button Poetry Button Poetry is a Minneapolis-based poetry company and independent publisher of performance poetry. They are known for their viral videos of slam poetry performances, including a performance of "OCD" by Neil Hilborn that the Knight Foundation c ...

), winner of the Button Poetry Prize. Smith has twice been a finalist in

Individual World Poetry Slam The Individual World Poetry Slam (iWPS) is a yearly poetry slam tournament put on by Poetry Slam, Inc. that pits individual slam poets from around the world against one another. History From 1990 to 2007, the National Poetry Slam held an "indiv ...

. They were a finalist in 2011 and placed second in 2014. With

, Smith is co-host of the poetry podcast ''VS'' from the

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is an American literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthropist Ru ...

. Smith won a 2017

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

grant. In 2018, Smith's sonnet sequence "summer, somewhere" received the inaugural Four Quartets Prize from the

Poetry Society of America The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...

. At age 29, Smith also became the youngest recipient of the £10,000

Forward Prize The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

for best poetry collection, as ''Don't Call Us Dead'' beat out works by U.S. poet laureate

Tracy K. Smith Tracy K. Smith (born April 16, 1972) is an American poet and educator. She served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019. She has published four collections of poetry, winning the Pulitzer Prize for her 2011 volume ''Life ...

and former Forward winner

Vahni Capildeo Vahni Anthony Ezekiel Capildeo (born Surya Vahni Priya Capildeo; born 1973) is a Trinidad and Tobago-born British writer, and a member of the extended Capildeo family that has produced notable Trinidadian politicians and writers (including V. S. ...

. Smith serves on the board of directors for the D.C.-based poetry non-profit

Split This Rock {{Short description, American national nonprofit organization of poets, artists, and activists Split This Rock is a national nonprofit organization of poets, artists, and activists based in Washington, D.C. The organization's stated goals are: To ...

. In 2020, Smith published a third poetry collection called ''Homie''. ''Homie'' won the 2021

Minnesota Book Award The Minnesota Book Awards are presented annually for books created by writers, illustrators or book artists who are Minnesotans. The award, originally established in 1988, is organized by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. History ...

in Poetry.

Personal life

Smith is

genderqueer Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

and uses they/them pronouns.

Works

Poems

*"poem where I be & you just might" (

) *"Dinosaurs in the Hood" (''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

'', December 2014) *"the bullet was a girl" (Poem-a-Day by the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

, September 3, 2015) *"Principles" (video from Brave New Voices Festival, July 2016) *"You're Dead, America" (

Buzzfeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

, November 9, 2016) *"C.R.E.A.M." (Poem-a-Day by the

, February 1, 2017) *"Don't Try Us" ('' Fader'', May 1, 2017) *Selection from "summer, somewhere" (''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', June 9, 2017)

Chapbooks

* hands on your knees (2013, Penmanship Books) * ''black movie'' (2015,

) ISBN 978-1-943735-00-6

Books

* ''Insert Boy'' (2014) * ''Don't Call Us Dead'' (2017) * ''Homie'' (2020)

In Anthology

* ''Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology'' (University of Georgia Press, 2018)

Awards

* 2014 – Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship *2015 –

for Gay Poetry *2015—Norma Farber First Book Award, Finalist * 2016 – Kate Tufts Discovery Award *2017 – NEA fellowship for creative writing *2017 –

National Book Award for Poetry The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".

, Finalist *2018 –

for best poetry collection *2018 – Four Quartets Prize *2021 -

for Poetry

References

External links

*
Danez Smith
on Poetryfoundation.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Danez Living people 21st-century American poets University of Michigan alumni LGBT African Americans LGBT people from Minnesota American LGBT poets Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry winners African-American poets Writers from Saint Paul, Minnesota Year of birth missing (living people) Non-binary poets Queer people Genderqueer people People with HIV/AIDS 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century LGBT people American non-binary writers