Zadie Smith

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...

(born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, ''

White Teeth ''White Teeth'' is a 2000 novel by the British author Zadie Smith. It focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends—the Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones—and their families in London. The novel centres on Britai ...

'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor in the Creative Writing faculty of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

since September 2010.

Biography

Sadie Smith was born on 25 October 1975 in

Willesden Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has forme ...

to a Jamaican mother, Yvonne Bailey, and an English father, Harvey Smith, who was 30 years his wife's senior. At the age of 14, she changed her name from Sadie to Zadie. Smith's mother grew up in Jamaica and emigrated to England in 1969. Smith's parents divorced when she was a teenager. She has a half-sister, a half-brother, and two younger brothers (one is the rapper and stand-up comedian Doc Brown, and the other is the rapper Luc Skyz). As a child, Smith was fond of tap dancing, and in her teenage years, she considered a career in musical theatre. While at university, Smith earned money as a jazz singer, and wanted to become a journalist. Despite earlier ambitions, literature emerged as her principal interest.

Education

Smith attended the local state schools, Malorees Junior School and Hampstead Comprehensive School, then

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

, where she studied

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

. In an interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' in 2000, Smith corrected a newspaper assertion that she left Cambridge with a double First. "Actually, I got a Third in my Part Ones", she said. She graduated with upper second-class honours. While at university Smith auditioned unsuccessfully for the

Cambridge Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

. At Cambridge, Smith published a number of short stories in a collection of new student writing called '' The Mays Anthology''. They attracted the attention of a publisher, who offered her a contract for her first novel. Smith decided to contact a

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...

and was taken on by A. P. Watt. Smith returned to guest-edit the anthology in 2001.

Career

Smith's début novel ''

'' was introduced to the publishing world in 1997 before it was completed. On the basis of a partial manuscript, an auction for the rights was begun, which was won by

Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half- Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which w ...

. Smith completed ''White Teeth'' during her final year at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Published in 2000, the novel immediately became a best-seller and received much acclaim. It was praised internationally and won a number of awards, among them the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

, and the

Betty Trask Award The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the ...

. The novel was adapted for television in 2002. In July 2000, Smith's debut was also the subject for discussion in a controversial essay of literary criticism by James Wood entitled "Human, All Too Inhuman", where Wood critiques the novel as part of a contemporary genre of

hysterical realism Hysterical realism is a term coined in 2000 by English critic James Wood to describe what he sees as a literary genre typified by a strong contrast between elaborately absurd prose, plotting, or characterization, on the one hand, and careful, deta ...

where "‘ formation has become the new character" and human feeling is absent from contemporary fiction. In an article for ''

'' in October 2001, Smith responded to the criticism by agreeing with the accuracy of the term and that she agreed with Wood's underlying argument that "any novel that aims at hysteria will now be effortlessly outstripped". However, she rejected her debut being categorised alongside major authors such as

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and university professor of English and creative writing. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel '' Infinite Jest'', whi ...

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and ...

, and

Don DeLillo Donald Richard DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, perf ...

and the dismissal of their own innovations on the basis of being

. Responding earnestly to Wood's concerns about contemporary literature and culture, Smith describes her own anxieties as a writer and argued that fiction should be "not a division of head and heart, but the useful employment of both". Smith served as writer-in-residence at the ICA in London and subsequently published, as editor, an anthology of sex writing, ''Piece of Flesh'', as the culmination of this role. Smith's second novel, ''

The Autograph Man ''The Autograph Man'', published in 2002, is the second novel by Zadie Smith. It follows the progress of a Jewish-Chinese Londoner named Alex-Li Tandem, who buys and sells autographs for a living and is obsessed with celebrities. Eventually, hi ...

'', was published in 2002 and was a commercial success, although it was not as well received by critics as ''White Teeth''. After the publication of ''The Autograph Man'', Smith visited the United States as a Fellow of the

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. She started work on a still-unreleased book of essays, ''The Morality of the Novel'' (a.k.a. ''Fail Better''), in which she considers a selection of 20th-century writers through the lens of

moral philosophy Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ...

. Some portions of this book presumably appear in the essay collection ''Changing My Mind'', published in November 2009. Smith's third novel, ''

On Beauty ''On Beauty'' is a 2005 novel by British author Zadie Smith, loosely based on ''Howards End'' by E. M. Forster. The story follows the lives of a mixed-race British/American family living in the United States, addresses ethnic and cultural diff ...

'', was published in September 2005. It is set largely in and around Greater

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. It attracted more acclaim than ''The Autograph Man'': it was shortlisted for the

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

, and won the 2006

Orange Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

and the

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...

. Later in the same year, Smith published '' Martha and Hanwell'', a book that pairs two short stories about two troubled characters, originally published in ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'' and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' respectively.

Penguin Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adap ...

published ''Martha and Hanwell'' with a new introduction by the author as part of their pocket series to celebrate their 70th birthday. The first story, "Martha, Martha", deals with Smith's familiar themes of race and postcolonial identity, while "Hanwell in Hell" is about a man struggling to cope with the death of his wife. In December 2008 she guest-edited the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' programme. After teaching fiction at

Columbia University School of the Arts The Columbia University School of the Arts, (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, Visual Arts, T ...

, Smith joined

as a tenured professor of fiction in 2010. Between March and October 2011, Smith was the monthly New Books reviewer for ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

''. She is also a frequent contributor to ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

''. In 2010, ''The Guardian'' newspaper asked Smith for her "10 rules for writing fiction". Among them she declared: "Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied." Smith's novel '' NW'' was published in 2012. It is set in the Kilburn area of north-west London, the title being a reference to the local postcode, NW6. ''NW'' was shortlisted for the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, ele ...

's Ondaatje Prize and the

Women's Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

. ''NW'' was made into a BBC television film directed by

Saul Dibb Saul Dibb (born 18 August 1968) is an English director and screenwriter. His father is the documentary maker Mike Dibb. Born in London, England, Saul Dibb is a graduate of the University of East Anglia. He is best known for co-writing and dire ...

and adapted by

Rachel Bennette Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

. Starring Nikki Amuka-Bird and

Phoebe Fox Phoebe Fox (born 16 April 1987) is an English actress, who was nominated for Olivier and Evening Standard awards for work in theatre. She has appeared in the ''Black Mirror'' episode "The Entire History of You" (2011), '' The Woman in Black: An ...

, it was broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

on 14 November 2016. In 2015 it was announced that Smith, along with her husband

Nick Laird Nicholas Laird (born 1975) is a Northern Irish novelist and poet. Education Laird was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, where he attended the local comprehensive school. He then gained entry to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he init ...

, was writing the screenplay for a science fiction movie to be directed by French filmmaker

Claire Denis Claire Denis (; born 21 April 1946) is a French film director and screenwriter. Her feature film ''Beau Travail'' (1999) has been called one of the greatest films of the 1990s, as well as of all time. Other acclaimed works include '' Trouble Ev ...

. Smith later said that her involvement had been overstated and that she had simply helped to polish the English dialogue for the film. Smith's fifth novel, '' Swing Time'', was published in November 2016. It drew inspiration from Smith's childhood love of tap dancing. It was longlisted for the

2017. Smith is a contributor to

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Le ...

's 2019 anthology ''

New Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, ...

'' (as is her mother Yvonne Bailey-Smith). Smith's first collection of short stories, '' Grand Union'', was published on 8 October 2019. In 2020 she published six essays in a collection entitled '' Intimations'', the royalties from which she said she would be donating to the

Equal Justice Initiative The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is a non-profit organization, based in Montgomery, Alabama, that provides legal representation to prisoners who may have been wrongly convicted of crimes, poor prisoners without effective representation, and oth ...

and New York’s

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

emergency relief fund. In 2021, Smith debuted her first play, ''The Wife of Willesden'', which she wrote after learning that her borough in London, Brent, had been selected in 2018 as the 2020 London's Borough of Culture. As the most famous current writer from Brent, Zadie was the natural choice to author the piece. She chose to adapt the Wife of Bath's Tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, recalling how she had translated Chaucer into contemporary English at Oxford. The retelling replaces the pilgrimage with a pub crawl set in contemporary London, with the Wife of Bath becoming Alvita, a Jamaican-born British woman in her mid-50's who challenges her Auntie P's traditional Christian views on sex and marriage. Like the original tale, Alvita is a woman who has had five husbands, with her experiences with them ranging from pleasant to traumatic. The majority of the piece is spent on her talking to the people in the pub, much like how the Wife of Bath's prologue is longer than the tale itself. To her, Alvita's voice is a common one she heard growing up in Brent, and thus writing this play was a natural choice for the festival. The tale itself is set in 17th century Jamaica, where a man guilty of rape is brought before the Queen, who decrees that his punishment is to go and find what women truly desire.

Personal life

Smith met

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. They married in 2004 in

King's College Chapel King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan vault. The Chapel was bui ...

, Cambridge. Smith dedicated ''

'' to "my dear Laird". She also uses his name in passing in ''White Teeth'': "An' all the good-lookin' men, all the ''rides'' like your man Nicky Laird, they're all dead." The couple lived in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy, from November 2006 to 2007, and lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Queen's Park, London Queen's Park is an area located partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Brent. Some of the area within Westminster forms a civil parish, the first to be created in London since the right of communities to establish ...

for about 10 years before relocating to

Kilburn, London Kilburn is an area of north west London, England, which spans the boundary of three London Boroughs: London Borough of Camden, Camden to the east, City of Westminster, London Borough of Brent, Brent to the west. There is also an area in the City ...

in 2020. They have two children. Smith describes herself as "unreligious", and was not raised in a religion, although retains a "curiosity" about the role religion plays in others' lives. In an essay exploring

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

and

existentialist Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...

views of death and dying, Smith characterises her

worldview A worldview or world-view or ''Weltanschauung'' is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and point of view. A worldview can include natural ...

as that of a "sentimental

Bibliography

Novels

* ''

'' (2000) * ''

'' (2002) * ''

'' (2005) * '' NW'' (2012) * '' Swing Time'' (2016)

Plays

*''The Wife of Willesden'' (2021)

Short fiction

;Collections *''Martha and Hanwell'' (2005) * '' Grand Union: Stories'' (2019) ;StoriesShort stories unless otherwise noted.

Non-fiction

* ''Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays'' (2009) * ''Stop What You're Doing and Read This!'' (2011) (with Carmen Callil,

Mark Haddon Mark Haddon (born 28 October 1962) is an English novelist, best known for ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' (2003). He won the Whitbread Award, the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Wr ...

Michael Rosen Michael Wayne Rosen (born 7 May 1946) is a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster and activist who has written 140 books. He served as Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009. Early life Michael Wayne Ro ...

and

Jeanette Winterson Jeanette Winterson (born 27 August 1959) is an English writer. Her first book, '' Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'', was a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against convention. Other novels explore gender pol ...

) * "Some Notes on Attunement: A voyage around

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her st ...

", ''The New Yorker'', 17 December 2012, and later featured in ''

The Best American Essays ''The Best American Essays'' is a yearly anthology of magazine articles published in the United States.Robert Atwan (ed.), Adam Gopnick (guest ed.). ''The Best American Essays 2008'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. It was started in 1986 and is ...

'' (2013) *
"On optimism and despair"
''The New York Review of Books'', 22 December 2016; speech given on accepting the Welt-Literaturpreis * ''Fences: A Brexit Diary'' (2016) * Online version is titled "Lynette Yiadom-Boakye's imaginary portraits". * '' Feel Free: Essays'' (2018) * From Introduction to

Darryl Pinckney Darryl Pinckney (born 1953 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American novelist, playwright, and essayist. Early life Pinckney grew up in a middle-class African-American family in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he attended local public schools. H ...

, ''Busted in New York and Other Essays'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019) * '' Intimations'' (2020) * Originally published in the November 4, 2013 issue.

As editor

* ''Piece of Flesh'' (2001) * ''The Burned Children of America'' (2003) (with

Dave Eggers Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir ''A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius''. Eggers is also the founder of ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', a lite ...

) * ''

The Book of Other People ''The Book of Other People'' is a collection of short stories, published in 2008 by Penguin Books. Selected and edited by Zadie Smith, it contains 23 short stories by 23 different authors, among them Nick Hornby, David Mitchell, Colm Tóibín, ...

'' (2007)

Critical studies and reviews of Smith's work

* Tew, Philip (ed.). ''Reading Zadie Smith: The First Decade and Beyond''. London: Bloomsbury, 2013. * Tew, Philip. ''Zadie Smith''. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. * Walters, Tracey (ed.).
Zadie Smith: Critical Essays
'' New York: Peter Lang Publications, 2008. ;''Feel free'' * ;''NW'' * * ——————— ;Notes

Awards and recognition

She was elected a fellow of the

in 2002. In a 2004 BBC poll of cultural researchers, Smith was named among the top twenty most influential people in

British culture British culture is influenced by the combined nations' history; its historically Christian religious life, its interaction with the cultures of Europe, the traditions of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and the impact of the British Empire ...

. In 2003, she was included on ''

's'' list of 20 best young authors, and was also included in the 2013 list. She joined

's Creative Writing Program as a tenured professor on 1 September 2010. Smith has won the

and the

in 2006 and her novel ''

'' was included in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. * ''White Teeth'': won the Whitbread First Novel Award, the

Guardian First Book Award The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspap ...

, the

, and the Commonwealth Writers’ First Book Award. Included on ''Time'' magazine's 100 best English-language novels published from 1923 to 2005 * ''The Autograph Man'': won the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Literary Prize * ''On Beauty'': won the Commonwealth Writers’ Best Book Award (Eurasia Section), and the Orange Prize for Fiction; shortlisted for the

* ''NW'': shortlisted for the

Ondaatje Prize and the

* ''Swing Time'': longlisted for the

2017 * ''Granta''′s Best of Young British Novelists, 2003 and 2013 * 2016: ''Welt''-Literaturpreis * 2017:

Langston Hughes Medal The Langston Hughes Medal has been awarded annually by the Langston Hughes Festival of the City College of New York since 1978. The medal "is awarded to highly distinguished writers from throughout the African American diaspora for their impressi ...

awarded on 16 November at the Langston Hughes Festival at

The City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, C ...

. * 2019: Infinity Award, Critical Writing and Research,

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...

* 2018:

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".Story Prize The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Eligible books must be written in English and first p ...

* 2022:

Grammy Award for Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the The Recording Academy, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording ...

win as a featured artist on ''

We Are In Modern English, ''we'' is a plural, first-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''we'' has six distinct shapes for five word forms: * ''we'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''us'' and ': the accusative (objective; ...

'' by

Jon Batiste Jonathan Michael Batiste (born November 11, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and television personality. He has recorded and performed with artists in various genres of music (Stevie Wonder, Prince, Willie Nelson, L ...

* 2022: received the Bodley Medal, the Bodleian Libraries' highest honour, "awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the worlds of books and literature, libraries, media and communications, science and philanthropy", presented by Richard Ovenden. * 2022:

PEN A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

/Audible Literary Service Award in recognition of Smith's "remarkable achievements as a novelist, short story writer, and essayist whose work displays unparalleled attention to craft and humane ideals". * 2022:

Critics' Circle Theatre Award The Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, originally called ''Drama'' Theatre Awards up to 1990, are British theatrical awards presented annually for the closing year's theatrical achievements. The winners, from theatre throughout the United Kingdom, ar ...

for "Most Promising Playwright" (''The Wife of Willesden'')

References

External links

* Stewart, Alison
Interview with Zadie Smith about her work ''Grand Union''
Interview and discussion broadcast on WNYC Public Radio show ''All Of It'' with Alison Stewart on 16 October 2020 (recorded in 2019). * Curry, Ginette
''Toubab La!: Literary Representations of Mixed-race Characters in the African Diaspora''
Newcastle, England: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007, .

on Salon.com (2000). * Joy Press
"Only Connect"
, an interview with Zadie Smith in the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'', 13 September 2005. * Stephanie Merritt
"She's young, black, British – and the first publishing sensation of the millennium"
''The Observer'', 16 January 2000. *

Wyatt Mason Wyatt Mason (born 1969) is an American journalist, essayist, critic and translator. Background and education Mason was raised in Manhattan. He attended The Fieldston School in New York, the University of Pennsylvania, and also studied literature a ...

"White Knees"
an essay on Smith's body of work, ''

'', October 2005.
Zadie Smith article archive
from ''

''
"Mind the Gap"
in ''Guernica Magazine'', January 2012. * Broadcaster Philippa Thoma

London Fictions, 2012. * Alison Flood
"Zadie Smith criticises author who says more than one child limits career"
''The Guardian'', 13 June 2013
Zadie Smith on ''Desert Island Discs''
BBC Radio 4, 22 September 2013. * Brian Tanguay
"A Conversation with Zadie Smith"
''Santa Barbara Independent'', 21 November 2017. * Yara Rodrigues Fowler
"Where to start with: Zadie Smith"
''The Guardian'', 27 May 2022. {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Zadie 1975 births Living people 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century essayists 21st-century British short story writers 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English women writers 21st-century essayists Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Black British women writers British Book Award winners British women essayists British women short story writers English people of Jamaican descent English short story writers English women novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Harper's Magazine people James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients New York University faculty People from Willesden Radcliffe fellows The New Yorker people English republicans