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IN THIS EPISODE
Tracy K. Smith is worried. Throughout the country, people have lost their lives due to COVID-19. Drug addiction has resulted in individuals losing their jobs, homes, and even their families. Numerous protests have erupted over the ongoing loss of Black lives, LGBTQ and abortion rights. Partisan politics, driven by racial animosity, led to an insurrection and deep cultural division. Smith found herself turning to her ancestors for guidance and drew on various forms of thinking—personal, documentary, and spiritual—to write her book To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul (2023). Host Gabrielle David delves into Smith’s method of crafting this impactful book, examining her choice to tackle difficult subjects like bereavement, sorrow, racial issues, and family dynamics, and how she has integrated storytelling as a crucial component of her writing.

“The conundrum of history is that we think it is behind us. But if it came first, doesn’t that mean it should be up ahead, turning back now and again to see if we are keeping up? Which version is true?”

—Tracy K. Smith, To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul (2023)

BIO
Tracy K. Smith, a writer, poet, librettist, and educator, served two terms as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019. She is the author of five acclaimed poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Life on Mars in 2011. Smith has also edited various anthologies, written the libretti for three operas, and penned the memoir, Ordinary Light (2015), which was a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction. Her accolades include a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, a 2004 Rona Jaffe Writers Award, a 2008 Essence Literary Award, a grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, a fellowship from the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, and a 2005 Whiting Award. She served as the Poem-a-Day Guest Editor in 2018 and 2019, and directed Princeton University’s creative writing program.  She was involved in the development of the podcast, The Slowdown, sponsored by the Poetry Foundation, and served as its host from 2018 to 2020. In 2021, Smith was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Smith holds a BA from Harvard University and an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. She currently teaches at Harvard University as a professor of English and of African and African American Studies and holds the Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professorship at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.

SEE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

CONNECT WITH TRACY K. SMITH

• • Official Website
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  • Wikipedia
  • Poetry Foundation
  • Academy of American Poets
  • Library of Congress
  • “In a New Memoir, Tracy K. Smith Connects Her Life to a Bigger Picture,” November 3, 2023, NYT Book Review

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