2022
August
Memoir Forthcoming in April 2023
Maggie Smith’s memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, will be out April 11, 2023 from One Signal/Atria Books/Simon & Schuster. You can preorder YCMTPB today. Preorders are so important to authors, so please consider preordering if you’re able. *Bonus literary karma points for ordering from your favorite indie bookstore.*
June
Picture Book from Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins
Maggie Smith will publish her first picture book, with Leanne Hatch illustrating. Publication of My Thoughts Have Wings is expected from Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins in winter 2024. More information to come.
Signed and Personalized Books Now Available
Maggie’s local independent bookstore, Gramercy Books, is now the exclusive online source for signed, personalized copies of Goldenrod, Keep Moving, and Good Bones. Now you can order books for yourself or copies to give as gifts, and she will personalize them for you–and as an added bonus, you’ll be supporting an indie bookstore. Click here for more information and to purchase.
February
Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award
Maggie Smith has been awarded a $5000 Individual Excellence Award in Poetry, her sixth, from the Ohio Arts Council. According to the OAC website, “Individual Excellence Awards are peer recognition of a creative artist’s body of work that exemplifies their specific discipline and advances the larger artistic community. These awards support artists’ growth and development and recognize their work in Ohio and beyond.” Thank you, Ohio Arts Council.
Keep Moving in the New York Times’ Wirecutter
Maggie Smith ‘s Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Chang (One Signal/Atria Books, 2020) was featured in Wirecutter’s “What We Keep on Our Nightstands”: “At any given moment, my nightstand may be littered with various phones, cables, glasses (of both the drinking and reading varieties), and often a heated neck wrap (usually homemade). But three items have taken up permanent residence. …And finally, there’s always a book. It’s often something in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, but I’m starting the year with something a bit more contemplative: Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity and Change by poet Maggie Smith.” Thank you to supervising editor Adrienne Maxwell.
March
AWP 2022 in Philadelphia
As part of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference, Maggie Smith will join Roxane Gay, Saeed Jones, Aubrey Hirsch, and Sumita Chakraborty for “Writing the Wound: How to Write Trauma Ethically.” A video recording of this panel discussion will be made available to conference attendees on Friday, March 26 at 1:45pm ET.
2021
February
Book Announcement!
Maggie Smith’s new collection of poems, Goldenrod, will be released by One Signal/Atria/Simon & Schuster on July 27, 2021. Pre-orders are available here.
2020
May
New Poems and Essays
Maggie Smith has poems and essays in recent issues of Real Simple, POETRY, The New Yorker, Image, A New Decameron (online), Cave Wall, Brevity, Mississippi Review, and the New York Times. She has work forthcoming in the Washington Post, the Harvard Review, Provincetown Arts, and elsewhere.
April
Revised Publication Date for Keep Moving
Due to the pandemic, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change, originally slated for publication on May 5, 2020, will now be released on October 6, 2020. Please consider pre-ordering directly from your local indie bookstore or from BookShop.org, as independent booksellers need our support in these difficult times.
2019
December
Keep Moving on Year-End Book Lists
The Washington Post and The Rumpus included Keep Moving on their lists of recommended reading in 2020.
November
Keep Moving a Most Anticipated Book of 2020
Marie Claire named Keep Moving as one of the 16 most anticipated books of 2020: “Following Maggie Smith on Twitter is like entering an inspirational capsule of wisdom, truth, and vulnerability—and now we get the privilege to read more of the American poet’s courageous words in her latest book, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change.” Pre-order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Indiebound here.
New Poems and Essays
Maggie Smith has poems and essays forthcoming in POETRY, The New Yorker, Image, Brevity, Mississippi Review, Cave Wall, and in the anthologies Bettering American Poetry and Grabbed: Take Back the Narrative. Her work has recently appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, EPOCH, Iron Horse Literary Review, Colorado Review, New England Review, Poetry International, Narrative, The Pushcart Prize XLIII: Best of the Small Presses 2019 Edition, and elsewhere.
July
Spalding University MFA
Maggie Smith has joined the MFA faculty of Spalding University’s School of Creative and Professional Writing. Located in Louisville, Kentucky, Spalding houses three low-residency graduate writing programs: the nationally recognized Master of Fine Arts in Writing, as well as a Master of Arts in Writing and a Graduate Certificate in Writing.
March
Poem-a-Day
Maggie Smith is the guest editor for the Academy of American Poet’s Poem-a-Day for March 2019. Poem-a-Day is distributed via email, web, and social media to more than half a million readers free of charge daily. Read more about Maggie Smith’s approach to curating March.
2020 Palm Beach Poetry Festival
Maggie Smith will be a featured poet at the 2020 Palm Beach Poetry Festival, alongside Joy Harjo, Ilya Kaminksky, Nickole Brown, Adrian Matejka, Dana Levin, Patricia Smith, Major Jackson, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Reginald Gibbons, Jessica Jacobs and Angela Narciso Torres.
January
Modern Love
Maggie Smith’s essay “Tracking the Demise of my Marriage on Google Maps” was published in the Style section of the Sunday New York Times on January 6, 2019.
Remembering Mary Oliver
Maggie Smith’s article on the work and influence of poet Mary Oliver was published in the Washington Post on January 19, 2019.
2018
December
Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day Guest Editor
Maggie Smith is one of twelve award-winning poets selected by the Academy of American Poets to curate a month of Poem-a-Day content. Maggie will be guest editor in March of 2019.
October
Poet in Residence at the University of Arizona Poetry Center
Maggie Smith will be the Fall 2018 Poet in Residence at the University of Arizona Poetry Center in Tucson. See the Events page of this website for more information about her events, including a public reading and craft lecture.
“First Fall” Featured on Boston Public Radio
Listen to Richard Blanco, Obama’s inaugural poet, read Maggie Smith’s poem “First Fall” and talk about it on Boston Public Radio, along with gorgeous fall poems by January Gill O’Neil, James Wright, and Robert Frost.
June
“Small Shoes” Film
Maggie Smith’s poem “Small Shoes” (first published in The Rise Up Review and later reprinted in the New York Times) has been made into a Motionpoem by Irish filmmaker Kate Dolan. The poem was inspired by the September 2015 photographs of three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi.
May
2018 Ohio Arts Council Fellowship
Maggie Smith has received her sixth Individual Excellence Award in Poetry from the Ohio Arts Council.
Pushcart Prize
Maggie Smith’s poem “Parachute,” originally published in Pleiades and included in Good Bones, has won a Pushcart Prize.
April
2018 IPPY Gold Medal Winner
Maggie Smith’s Good Bones won the Gold Medal in Poetry from the 2018 Independent Publisher Book Awards.
February
Second Printing of Good Bones
Maggie Smith’s third book of poems, Good Bones, published by Tupelo Press on October 1, 2017, has gone into its second printing.
January
Humanitas Award finalist
The “Good Bones” episode of Madam Secretary, written by Joy Gregory, is a finalist for the HUMANITAS Prize, which “honors film and television writers whose work inspires compassion, hope and understanding in the human family.”
2017
November
Best Poetry Collections of 2017
Elizabeth Lund, critic for the Washington Post, has named Good Bones one of the five Best Poetry Collections of 2017, along with books by Layli Long Soldier, Danez Smith, Mary Oliver, and 2017 National Book Award winner Frank Bidart.
Maggie Smith on The Writer’s Almanac
Maggie Smith’s poem “You could never take a car to Greenland,” from Good Bones, was featured on The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor on November 8, 2017.
October
Good Bones Available from Tupelo Press
Maggie Smith’s third book of poems, Good Bones, is available now from Tupelo Press, Amazon, and your local independent bookstore.
AWP Conference Featured Presenter
Maggie Smith will be a featured reader at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference in Tampa, Florida, in March 2018. Check the Events page of this website for details.
August
Good Bones Available for Pre-Order
Maggie Smith’s third book of poems, Good Bones, is available for pre-order from Tupelo Press and at Amazon. The publication date for the collection is October 1, 2017.
July
Verse Daily
Maggie Smith had two poems reprinted on Verse Daily in July, both originally published by Southern Indiana Review: “Goldenrod” (July 12, 2017) and “Rain, New Year’s Eve” (July 20, 2017).
June
Blue Flower Arts
Maggie Smith is now represented by Blue Flower Arts Literary Speakers Agency.
May
Good Bones Coming Fall 2017
Maggie Smith’s third book of poems, Good Bones, will be published by Tupelo Press this fall. You can see Josef Beery’s gorgeous cover design here. You can read advance praise for Good Bones here.
Two Poems to be Adapted for Film
Maggie Smith’s poems “Good Bones” and “Small Shoes” will be made into short films as part of Motionpoems Season 8. Filmmaker Anais La Rocca will be making a film from “Good Bones,” and filmmaker Kate Dolan will be making a film from “Small Shoes.”
April
Meryl Streep Reads “Good Bones”
Meryl Streep read Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones” at the Academy of American Poets’ fifteenth annual Poetry & the Creative Mind gala reading at Lincoln Center on April 19, 2017.
Poems of Resistance in the New York Times
Maggie Smith’s poem “Small Shoes” was featured in the New York Times on April 21, 2017, alongside poems of resistance by Jane Hirshfield, Javier Zamora, Alex Dimitrov, and Fatimah Asghar. “Small Shoes” was originally published in The Rise Up Review.
“Good Bones” episode of Madam Secretary on CBS
An excerpt of Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones” was read on the one-hour CBS drama Madam Secretary, starring Téa Leoni. The episode, titled “Good Bones,” aired Sunday, April 9.
February
West Cork Literary Festival
Maggie Smith will be participating in the West Cork Literary Festival in Bantry on the south coast of Ireland in July 2017. Details to come.
January
BBC World Service
Listen to an episode of the BBC’s Boston Calling featuring an interview with Maggie Smith and a reading of “Good Bones” (which PRI called “the official poem of 2016“).
The Best American Poetry
Natasha Trethewey, guest editor of The Best American Poetry 2017, has selected Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones,” originally published in Waxwing Literary Journal, for inclusion in the anthology. The Best American Poetry 2017 will be published by Scribner in cloth and paperback in September 2017.
Maggie Smith on the BBC/PRI
Listen to an episode of the BBC’s Boston Calling featuring an interview with Maggie Smith and a reading of “Good Bones” (which PRI called “the official poem of 2016“).
2016
December
PRI’s The World
Maggie spoke with Jeb Sharp for the PRI/BBC show The World, reading “Good Bones” (which PRI is calling “the official poem of 2016“) and talking about the poem. Listen to the show here.
Washington Post
In “Maggie Smith and the poem that captured the mood of a tumultuous year,” Nora Krug, the Post‘s Book World editor, writes about the year Maggie’s poem “Good Bones” had.
November
Poems for After the Election
“Good Bones” is included in an online anthology, Poems for After the Election, on the Academy of American Poets website, alongside poems by Adrienne Rich, Wallace Stevens, Naomi Shihab Nye, W.H. Auden, Allen Ginsberg, and others.
New Essay Online at the Poetry Foundation
Maggie Smith has an essay, “Light & Darkness,” online at the Poetry Foundation website. It focuses on a poem by Sharon Olds, “Prayer During a Time My Son Is Having Seizures.”
Spanish Translations
Pedro Poitevin’s beautiful Spanish translations of “Good Bones” and “At your age, I wore a darkness” are up at Letras Libres, along with an interview.
Pushcart Prize Nominations
The editors of Waxwing nominated “Good Bones” for a Pushcart Prize and for Best of the Net. The editors of Nashville Review nominated “At your age, I wore a darkness” for a Pushcart Prize. The editors of Sugar House Review nominated “Panel Van” for a Pushcart Prize.
October
UK Edition of The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison
The UK edition of The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison (Tupelo Press 2015) has recently been released and is now available on Amazon UK.
Nurturing Craft in an Age of Content: An Interview with Maggie Smith
Read Maggie Smith’s interview–on “Good Bones,” Weep Up, and the draw of poetry–with Upwrite Magazine.
August
Ohio Poet of the Year
Maggie Smith has been selected as Ohio Poet of the Year for her book The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison (Tupelo Press 2015). She will give a reading at the annual Ohio Poetry Day celebration in October 2016.
“Good Bones” on The Ohio State University Homepage
OSU alumna Maggie Smith is on The Ohio State University homepage. Visit the university’s website to read an article about “Good Bones” going viral and to watch a video of Maggie reading the poem.
AWP Conference 2017
Maggie Smith will be moderating and participating in a panel reading at the 2017 Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference in Washington, DC, with poets Dena Rash Guzman, Meghan Privitello, and Leah Umansky: It’s the End of the World As She Knows It: Apocalypse Poetry by Women. She will also be on a panel with Meghan Daum, Cade Leebron, Kathryn Rhett, and moderator/organizer Michelle Herman: Mommy Dearest/Daughter Darling: Putting Words in Her Mouth.
July
Maggie Smith to Judge 2018 Best New British and Irish Poets Competition
American poet Maggie Smith will guest-judge Eyewear Publishing‘s 2018 Best New British and Irish Poets competition. Poets resident in the U.K. or Ireland, regardless of nationality, as well as passport holders from the U.K. or Ireland who live abroad, will be eligible to submit work for consideration if they have not yet published (and are not under contract to publish) a full-length collection of poetry. Poets who have published pamphlets will be eligible to compete.
Maggie Smith to Judge 2017 Sunken Garden Chapbook Prize
Maggie Smith will judge the 2017 Tupelo Press Sunken Garden Chapbook Prize. The winner receives $1000, 25 copies of the winning title, an introductory reading at the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, and chapbook publication by Tupelo Press. Manuscripts are judged anonymously and all finalists will be considered for publication.
“Good Bones” in Essay on Politics and Poetry
Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones” was recently featured in an essay by Kathleen Rooney on politics and poetry at the Poetry Foundation website.
“Good Bones” in The Guardian
Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones” was discussed alongside poems by Patricia Smith, Patricia Lockwood, Hera Lindsay Bird, and other poets in “Poetic Justice: The Rise of Brilliant Women Writing in Dark Times” in The Guardian.
Kenyon Review Podcast
Maggie Smith interviewed Stanley Plumly for a Kenyon Review podcast, and the two talk about poems, prose, and “the different muscles” used in each, among other topics. Plumly also reads “Dutch Elm,” the opening poem in his new book, Against Sunset, due out from Norton this fall.
Stanley Plumly’s most recent book of poems is Orphan Hours (W.W. Norton, 2012). His collection, Old Heart, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Paterson Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His Posthumous Keats: A Personal Biography was runner-up for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Distinguished Biography. In 2015, his book of prose The Immortal Evening: A Legendary Dinner with Keats, Wordsworth, and Lamb won the Truman Capote Prize for Literary Criticism, administered by the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop. Plumly is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. In 2010 he was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
June
“Good Bones” Broadside
Tupelo Press has released a beautifully designed broadside of “Good Bones,” first published in Waxwing. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Orlando Youth Alliance, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide a safe space for GLBTQ youth in Central Florida. You may order the broadside here.
“Good Bones” Poem of the Day
On June 30, 2016, “Good Bones” was the Poetry Foundation’s Poem of the Day.
“Good Bones” Goes Viral
Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones,” recently published in Waxwing, went viral on social media. Read stories, press, and interviews in Slate, the Guardian, the Telegraph, The Daily Dot, Huffington Post Italia, the i Paper, the Oregonian, Kveller, the Columbus Dispatch, Columbus Alive, and a story and an interview in The Seattle Review of Books.
Kenyon Review Podcast
Maggie Smith talked with Andrew Grace for a special edition of the Kenyon Review Podcast. “Maggie Smith was at Kenyon recently as a fellow for the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Just a day before she arrived on campus, something extraordinary happened: Her poem, ‘Good Bones,’ went viral worldwide in the wake of the twin tragedies of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando and the murder of British MP Jo Cox. KR’s Andrew Grace talked to Smith on June 29th about her work becoming known worldwide in a matter of days and the impact it’s had on her normal, suburban Ohio life.”
April
2016 IPPY Gold Medal Winner
Maggie Smith’s The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison won the Gold Medal in Poetry from the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards.
Disasterology Released by Dream Horse Press
Maggie Smith’s third chapbook, Disasterology, winner of the 2013 Dream Horse Press Chapbook Prize, was released on April 15, 2016.
2016 Ohio Arts Council Fellowship
Maggie Smith has received an Individual Excellence Award in poetry from the Ohio Arts Council for poems from her new book manuscript, Weep Up.
BUST Magazine
Maggie Smith was named one of “8 Women Poets You Need To Know About For National Poetry Month” in BUST, alongside Claudia Rankine, Tracy K. Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Cathy Park Hong, Tarfia Faizullah, Hannah Sanghee Park, and Carolyn Forché.
Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist
The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal and a category finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award.
March
Magma Poetry Competition
Maggie Smith won the Magma Poetry Competition Editors’ Prize for a short poem with “Weep Up,” the title poem of her new manuscript. The prize is publication and £1,000. The awards ceremony was held March 11, 2016, at Keats House in Keats Grove, Hampstead, north London.
The Cloudy House
Maggie is featured in the Spring Project Round-Up over at The Cloudy House, discussing a series of poems in her third book manuscript, Weep Up.
February
Columbus Makes Art / Art Makes Columbus
Maggie Smith is a featured artist on the Columbus Makes Art website.
January
Kenyon Review Peter Taylor Fellowship
Maggie Smith will serve as Stanley Plumly’s Peter Taylor Fellow at the 2016 Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Maggie will assist in Plumly’s weeklong poetry workshop, conference one-on-one with participants, and give a public reading.
2015
November
Pushcart Prize Nominations
Two of Maggie Smith’s poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Thanks to Bradley K. Meyer of Pouch for nominating “Mars,” and to Helen Vitoria of Thrush for nominating “Dear.”
Kenyon Review Podcast
On the November Kenyon Review Podcast, Maggie Smith and fellow Kenyon Review consulting editor Andrew Grace discuss balancing parenting with the writing life, rewriting fairy tales, the ins and outs of the poetry manuscript consultation business, and the book-prize culture.
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
On December 12 and 13, 2015, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra will be performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. There are four sonnets that Vivaldi may have written himself–poems that are often overlooked. Maggie Smith will be reading each sonnet onstage before the music is played. Ticket information is available here.
August
Contributing Editor to the Kenyon Review
Maggie Smith is joining the Kenyon Review as a Contributing Editor.
James Wright Poetry Award
Maggie Smith will serve as the final judge for Mid-American Review‘s James Wright Poetry Award. The winner receives $1000 plus publication in MAR.
June
Poetry Manuscript Consultations
How do you make it out of the slush pile? How do you craft a book that editors believe needs to be in the world? How do you break through from finalist/semi-finalist to winning a book contest? Maggie Smith offers manuscript editing & consultation for full-length manuscripts, chapbook-length manuscripts, and individual poems. If you are gearing up for another round of book contest submissions or journal submissions and could use a fresh set of eyes on your work, please visit the Editorial page for details.
May
Review of The Well Speaks Its Own Poison
Read poet Diana Whitney’s review of The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison over at The Rumpus.
April
Spring 2016 Visiting Assistant Professorship
Maggie Smith will be joining the creative writing faculty at The Ohio State University for the Spring 2016 semester as a Visiting Assistant Professor.
Tattooed Poets Project
Maggie Smith and her black feather tattoo are on the Tattooed Poets Project, a National Poetry month feature on Bill Cohen’s blog, Tattoosday.
The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison Released by Tupelo Press
Maggie’s second book, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, selected by Kimiko Hahn as the winner of the 2012 Dorset Prize, was released by Tupelo Press on April 1, 2015.
March
Maggie Smith Wins HerStories Essay Contest
Maggie’s essay “Here Comes the Sun” won the HerStories essay contest. She received $500 and her essay will appear in the anthology Mothering Through the Darkness: Women Open Up About the Postpartum Experience (She Writes Press, forthcoming November 2015).
January
Pre-order The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison
The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison is now available for pre-order at Amazon. Of course, you may also order the book from your local independent bookseller. The book is being released on April 1, 2015.
2014
December
Sustainable Arts Foundation Fellowship Recipient
Maggie Smith has been awarded a $6000 Sustainable Arts Foundation fellowship for poems from her third book manuscript-in-progress, which is tentatively titled Weep Up. The Sustainable Arts Foundation awards fellowships to artists and writers who have at least one child under age 18.
New American Press Poetry Prize Judge
Maggie Smith is serving as the final judge for the 2015 New American Press Poetry Prize for a full-length poetry manuscript. The deadline has been extended to January 16, 2015. Visit NAP’s website for submissions guidelines and details.
2013 Dream Horse Press National Chapbook Prize Winner
Maggie Smith’s chapbook Disasterology has won the 2013 Dream Horse Press National Chapbook Prize and is forthcoming from Dream Horse Press.
Kenyon Review Peter Taylor Fellowship Recipient
Stanley Plumly selected Maggie Smith as his 2014 Peter Taylor Fellow. Maggie will assist in his weeklong poetry workshop at The Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop in June 2014.
May
Ohio Wesleyan University Young Alumni Award Recipient
Maggie Smith (OWU ’99) has been chosen as a recipient of the inaugural Ohio Wesleyan University Young Alumni Award in 2014, a new award “given to alumni who graduated in the last 15 years in recognition of a commitment to excellence in post-collegiate life and a significant or ongoing commitment to extraordinary work, research, volunteerism, or service to OWU.”
March
2014 Ohio Arts Council Fellowship Recipient
Maggie Smith is the grateful recipient of her fourth Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council.
Tupelo Quarterly Interview
The inaugural issue of Tupelo Quarterly features four poems from Maggie Smith’s forthcoming book, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, and a conversation between Maggie and Jessamyn Smyth.
2013
December
Maggie Smith in The Southern Review
Read some very kind words on The Southern Review’s blog about Maggie’s 7 poems in the Winter 2013 issue.
2012
December
Technique Talk Interview
Maggie’s Technique Talk interview with Jackie Mantey in Columbus Alive—on poems, parenthood, Bon Iver’s first album, Sol Lewitt, shadow puppets, and more—was picked up by the Poetry Foundation blog.
July
Frequency Poetry Workshop Scholarships Judge
Maggie Smith is serving as a judge for the Frequency poetry workshop scholarships along with poet Tarfia Faizullah. You can learn more about Frequency, a community arts organization based in Providence, here.
The List of Dangers Reviewed in Indiana Review
The Summer 2012 issue of Indiana Review featured editor Jennifer Luebbers’s glowing review of Maggie Smith’s The List of Dangers.
April
Poem Commissioned by Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Maggie Smith was commissioned by Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, to write a poem for the Columbus Wishing Tree Project. Watch the video for the project, which includes Maggie reading the poem, here. Read the poem, listen to the audio, and learn more about the Wishing Tree Project here.
2011
July
VCCA Residency Fellowship Recipient
Maggie Smith received a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts for a 2011 residency in Amherst, Virginia. Read more about the VCCA artist residency program here.
June
National Poetry Series Finalist
Maggie Smith’s second book manuscript was a finalist for the 2011 National Poetry Series. Forty-five finalists were chosen from more than 1300 manuscripts. Congratulations to the five winners!
May
Ohioana Book Festival Featured Author
Maggie Smith was one of ten Featured Authors at the 2011 Ohioana Book Festival.
January
Maggie Smith in Columbus Parent Magazine
Read about Maggie (and poet-in-training, Violet) in Columbus Parent.
2010
November
2011-2012 NEA Fellowship Recipient
Maggie Smith has been awarded a $25,000 Creative Writing Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. Read about Maggie and the NEA Fellowship in the Suburban News, Front Row Center, and Ohio Wesleyan University’s online newsletter.
March
2010 OAC Fellowship Recipient
Maggie Smith has been awarded a 2010 Individual Excellence Award by the Ohio Arts Council.
March
AWP 2022 in Philadelphia
As part of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference, Maggie Smith will join Roxane Gay, Saeed Jones, Aubrey Hirsch, and Sumita Chakraborty for “Writing the Wound: How to Write Trauma Ethically.” A video recording of this panel discussion will be made available to conference attendees on Friday, March 26 at 1:45pm ET.
2021
February
Book Announcement!
Maggie Smith’s new collection of poems, Goldenrod, will be released by One Signal/Atria/Simon & Schuster on July 27, 2021. Pre-orders are available here.
2020
May
New Poems and Essays
Maggie Smith has poems and essays in recent issues of Real Simple, POETRY, The New Yorker, Image, A New Decameron (online), Cave Wall, Brevity, Mississippi Review, and the New York Times. She has work forthcoming in the Washington Post, the Harvard Review, Provincetown Arts, and elsewhere.
April
Revised Publication Date for Keep Moving
Due to the pandemic, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change, originally slated for publication on May 5, 2020, will now be released on October 6, 2020. Please consider pre-ordering directly from your local indie bookstore or from BookShop.org, as independent booksellers need our support in these difficult times.
2019
December
Keep Moving on Year-End Book Lists
The Washington Post and The Rumpus included Keep Moving on their lists of recommended reading in 2020.
November
Keep Moving a Most Anticipated Book of 2020
Marie Claire named Keep Moving as one of the 16 most anticipated books of 2020: “Following Maggie Smith on Twitter is like entering an inspirational capsule of wisdom, truth, and vulnerability—and now we get the privilege to read more of the American poet’s courageous words in her latest book, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change.” Pre-order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Indiebound here.
New Poems and Essays
Maggie Smith has poems and essays forthcoming in POETRY, The New Yorker, Image, Brevity, Mississippi Review, Cave Wall, and in the anthologies Bettering American Poetry and Grabbed: Take Back the Narrative. Her work has recently appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, EPOCH, Iron Horse Literary Review, Colorado Review, New England Review, Poetry International, Narrative, The Pushcart Prize XLIII: Best of the Small Presses 2019 Edition, and elsewhere.
July
Spalding University MFA
Maggie Smith has joined the MFA faculty of Spalding University’s School of Creative and Professional Writing. Located in Louisville, Kentucky, Spalding houses three low-residency graduate writing programs: the nationally recognized Master of Fine Arts in Writing, as well as a Master of Arts in Writing and a Graduate Certificate in Writing.
March
Poem-a-Day
Maggie Smith is the guest editor for the Academy of American Poet’s Poem-a-Day for March 2019. Poem-a-Day is distributed via email, web, and social media to more than half a million readers free of charge daily. Read more about Maggie Smith’s approach to curating March.
2020 Palm Beach Poetry Festival
Maggie Smith will be a featured poet at the 2020 Palm Beach Poetry Festival, alongside Joy Harjo, Ilya Kaminksky, Nickole Brown, Adrian Matejka, Dana Levin, Patricia Smith, Major Jackson, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Reginald Gibbons, Jessica Jacobs and Angela Narciso Torres.
January
Modern Love
Maggie Smith’s essay “Tracking the Demise of my Marriage on Google Maps” was published in the Style section of the Sunday New York Times on January 6, 2019.
Remembering Mary Oliver
Maggie Smith’s article on the work and influence of poet Mary Oliver was published in the Washington Post on January 19, 2019.
2018
December
Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day Guest Editor
Maggie Smith is one of twelve award-winning poets selected by the Academy of American Poets to curate a month of Poem-a-Day content. Maggie will be guest editor in March of 2019.
October
Poet in Residence at the University of Arizona Poetry Center
Maggie Smith will be the Fall 2018 Poet in Residence at the University of Arizona Poetry Center in Tucson. See the Events page of this website for more information about her events, including a public reading and craft lecture.
“First Fall” Featured on Boston Public Radio
Listen to Richard Blanco, Obama’s inaugural poet, read Maggie Smith’s poem “First Fall” and talk about it on Boston Public Radio, along with gorgeous fall poems by January Gill O’Neil, James Wright, and Robert Frost.
June
“Small Shoes” Film
Maggie Smith’s poem “Small Shoes” (first published in The Rise Up Review and later reprinted in the New York Times) has been made into a Motionpoem by Irish filmmaker Kate Dolan. The poem was inspired by the September 2015 photographs of three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi.
May
2018 Ohio Arts Council Fellowship
Maggie Smith has received her sixth Individual Excellence Award in Poetry from the Ohio Arts Council.
Pushcart Prize
Maggie Smith’s poem “Parachute,” originally published in Pleiades and included in Good Bones, has won a Pushcart Prize.
April
2018 IPPY Gold Medal Winner
Maggie Smith’s Good Bones won the Gold Medal in Poetry from the 2018 Independent Publisher Book Awards.
February
Second Printing of Good Bones
Maggie Smith’s third book of poems, Good Bones, published by Tupelo Press on October 1, 2017, has gone into its second printing.
January
Humanitas Award finalist
The “Good Bones” episode of Madam Secretary, written by Joy Gregory, is a finalist for the HUMANITAS Prize, which “honors film and television writers whose work inspires compassion, hope and understanding in the human family.”
2017
November
Best Poetry Collections of 2017
Elizabeth Lund, critic for the Washington Post, has named Good Bones one of the five Best Poetry Collections of 2017, along with books by Layli Long Soldier, Danez Smith, Mary Oliver, and 2017 National Book Award winner Frank Bidart.
Maggie Smith on The Writer’s Almanac
Maggie Smith’s poem “You could never take a car to Greenland,” from Good Bones, was featured on The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor on November 8, 2017.
October
Good Bones Available from Tupelo Press
Maggie Smith’s third book of poems, Good Bones, is available now from Tupelo Press, Amazon, and your local independent bookstore.
AWP Conference Featured Presenter
Maggie Smith will be a featured reader at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference in Tampa, Florida, in March 2018. Check the Events page of this website for details.
August
Good Bones Available for Pre-Order
Maggie Smith’s third book of poems, Good Bones, is available for pre-order from Tupelo Press and at Amazon. The publication date for the collection is October 1, 2017.
July
Verse Daily
Maggie Smith had two poems reprinted on Verse Daily in July, both originally published by Southern Indiana Review: “Goldenrod” (July 12, 2017) and “Rain, New Year’s Eve” (July 20, 2017).
June
Blue Flower Arts
Maggie Smith is now represented by Blue Flower Arts Literary Speakers Agency.
May
Good Bones Coming Fall 2017
Maggie Smith’s third book of poems, Good Bones, will be published by Tupelo Press this fall. You can see Josef Beery’s gorgeous cover design here. You can read advance praise for Good Bones here.
Two Poems to be Adapted for Film
Maggie Smith’s poems “Good Bones” and “Small Shoes” will be made into short films as part of Motionpoems Season 8. Filmmaker Anais La Rocca will be making a film from “Good Bones,” and filmmaker Kate Dolan will be making a film from “Small Shoes.”
April
Meryl Streep Reads “Good Bones”
Meryl Streep read Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones” at the Academy of American Poets’ fifteenth annual Poetry & the Creative Mind gala reading at Lincoln Center on April 19, 2017.
Poems of Resistance in the New York Times
Maggie Smith’s poem “Small Shoes” was featured in the New York Times on April 21, 2017, alongside poems of resistance by Jane Hirshfield, Javier Zamora, Alex Dimitrov, and Fatimah Asghar. “Small Shoes” was originally published in The Rise Up Review.
“Good Bones” episode of Madam Secretary on CBS
An excerpt of Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones” was read on the one-hour CBS drama Madam Secretary, starring Téa Leoni. The episode, titled “Good Bones,” aired Sunday, April 9.
February
West Cork Literary Festival
Maggie Smith will be participating in the West Cork Literary Festival in Bantry on the south coast of Ireland in July 2017. Details to come.
January
BBC World Service
Listen to an episode of the BBC’s Boston Calling featuring an interview with Maggie Smith and a reading of “Good Bones” (which PRI called “the official poem of 2016“).
The Best American Poetry
Natasha Trethewey, guest editor of The Best American Poetry 2017, has selected Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones,” originally published in Waxwing Literary Journal, for inclusion in the anthology. The Best American Poetry 2017 will be published by Scribner in cloth and paperback in September 2017.
Maggie Smith on the BBC/PRI
Listen to an episode of the BBC’s Boston Calling featuring an interview with Maggie Smith and a reading of “Good Bones” (which PRI called “the official poem of 2016“).
2016
December
PRI’s The World
Maggie spoke with Jeb Sharp for the PRI/BBC show The World, reading “Good Bones” (which PRI is calling “the official poem of 2016“) and talking about the poem. Listen to the show here.
Washington Post
In “Maggie Smith and the poem that captured the mood of a tumultuous year,” Nora Krug, the Post‘s Book World editor, writes about the year Maggie’s poem “Good Bones” had.
November
Poems for After the Election
“Good Bones” is included in an online anthology, Poems for After the Election, on the Academy of American Poets website, alongside poems by Adrienne Rich, Wallace Stevens, Naomi Shihab Nye, W.H. Auden, Allen Ginsberg, and others.
New Essay Online at the Poetry Foundation
Maggie Smith has an essay, “Light & Darkness,” online at the Poetry Foundation website. It focuses on a poem by Sharon Olds, “Prayer During a Time My Son Is Having Seizures.”
Spanish Translations
Pedro Poitevin’s beautiful Spanish translations of “Good Bones” and “At your age, I wore a darkness” are up at Letras Libres, along with an interview.
Pushcart Prize Nominations
The editors of Waxwing nominated “Good Bones” for a Pushcart Prize and for Best of the Net. The editors of Nashville Review nominated “At your age, I wore a darkness” for a Pushcart Prize. The editors of Sugar House Review nominated “Panel Van” for a Pushcart Prize.
October
UK Edition of The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison
The UK edition of The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison (Tupelo Press 2015) has recently been released and is now available on Amazon UK.
Nurturing Craft in an Age of Content: An Interview with Maggie Smith
Read Maggie Smith’s interview–on “Good Bones,” Weep Up, and the draw of poetry–with Upwrite Magazine.
August
Ohio Poet of the Year
Maggie Smith has been selected as Ohio Poet of the Year for her book The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison (Tupelo Press 2015). She will give a reading at the annual Ohio Poetry Day celebration in October 2016.
“Good Bones” on The Ohio State University Homepage
OSU alumna Maggie Smith is on The Ohio State University homepage. Visit the university’s website to read an article about “Good Bones” going viral and to watch a video of Maggie reading the poem.
AWP Conference 2017
Maggie Smith will be moderating and participating in a panel reading at the 2017 Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference in Washington, DC, with poets Dena Rash Guzman, Meghan Privitello, and Leah Umansky: It’s the End of the World As She Knows It: Apocalypse Poetry by Women. She will also be on a panel with Meghan Daum, Cade Leebron, Kathryn Rhett, and moderator/organizer Michelle Herman: Mommy Dearest/Daughter Darling: Putting Words in Her Mouth.
July
Maggie Smith to Judge 2018 Best New British and Irish Poets Competition
American poet Maggie Smith will guest-judge Eyewear Publishing‘s 2018 Best New British and Irish Poets competition. Poets resident in the U.K. or Ireland, regardless of nationality, as well as passport holders from the U.K. or Ireland who live abroad, will be eligible to submit work for consideration if they have not yet published (and are not under contract to publish) a full-length collection of poetry. Poets who have published pamphlets will be eligible to compete.
Maggie Smith to Judge 2017 Sunken Garden Chapbook Prize
Maggie Smith will judge the 2017 Tupelo Press Sunken Garden Chapbook Prize. The winner receives $1000, 25 copies of the winning title, an introductory reading at the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, and chapbook publication by Tupelo Press. Manuscripts are judged anonymously and all finalists will be considered for publication.
“Good Bones” in Essay on Politics and Poetry
Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones” was recently featured in an essay by Kathleen Rooney on politics and poetry at the Poetry Foundation website.
“Good Bones” in The Guardian
Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones” was discussed alongside poems by Patricia Smith, Patricia Lockwood, Hera Lindsay Bird, and other poets in “Poetic Justice: The Rise of Brilliant Women Writing in Dark Times” in The Guardian.
Kenyon Review Podcast
Maggie Smith interviewed Stanley Plumly for a Kenyon Review podcast, and the two talk about poems, prose, and “the different muscles” used in each, among other topics. Plumly also reads “Dutch Elm,” the opening poem in his new book, Against Sunset, due out from Norton this fall.
Stanley Plumly’s most recent book of poems is Orphan Hours (W.W. Norton, 2012). His collection, Old Heart, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Paterson Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His Posthumous Keats: A Personal Biography was runner-up for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Distinguished Biography. In 2015, his book of prose The Immortal Evening: A Legendary Dinner with Keats, Wordsworth, and Lamb won the Truman Capote Prize for Literary Criticism, administered by the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop. Plumly is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. In 2010 he was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
June
“Good Bones” Broadside
Tupelo Press has released a beautifully designed broadside of “Good Bones,” first published in Waxwing. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Orlando Youth Alliance, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide a safe space for GLBTQ youth in Central Florida. You may order the broadside here.
“Good Bones” Poem of the Day
On June 30, 2016, “Good Bones” was the Poetry Foundation’s Poem of the Day.
“Good Bones” Goes Viral
Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones,” recently published in Waxwing, went viral on social media. Read stories, press, and interviews in Slate, the Guardian, the Telegraph, The Daily Dot, Huffington Post Italia, the i Paper, the Oregonian, Kveller, the Columbus Dispatch, Columbus Alive, and a story and an interview in The Seattle Review of Books.
Kenyon Review Podcast
Maggie Smith talked with Andrew Grace for a special edition of the Kenyon Review Podcast. “Maggie Smith was at Kenyon recently as a fellow for the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Just a day before she arrived on campus, something extraordinary happened: Her poem, ‘Good Bones,’ went viral worldwide in the wake of the twin tragedies of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando and the murder of British MP Jo Cox. KR’s Andrew Grace talked to Smith on June 29th about her work becoming known worldwide in a matter of days and the impact it’s had on her normal, suburban Ohio life.”
April
2016 IPPY Gold Medal Winner
Maggie Smith’s The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison won the Gold Medal in Poetry from the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards.
Disasterology Released by Dream Horse Press
Maggie Smith’s third chapbook, Disasterology, winner of the 2013 Dream Horse Press Chapbook Prize, was released on April 15, 2016.
2016 Ohio Arts Council Fellowship
Maggie Smith has received an Individual Excellence Award in poetry from the Ohio Arts Council for poems from her new book manuscript, Weep Up.
BUST Magazine
Maggie Smith was named one of “8 Women Poets You Need To Know About For National Poetry Month” in BUST, alongside Claudia Rankine, Tracy K. Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Cathy Park Hong, Tarfia Faizullah, Hannah Sanghee Park, and Carolyn Forché.
Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist
The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal and a category finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award.
March
Magma Poetry Competition
Maggie Smith won the Magma Poetry Competition Editors’ Prize for a short poem with “Weep Up,” the title poem of her new manuscript. The prize is publication and £1,000. The awards ceremony was held March 11, 2016, at Keats House in Keats Grove, Hampstead, north London.
The Cloudy House
Maggie is featured in the Spring Project Round-Up over at The Cloudy House, discussing a series of poems in her third book manuscript, Weep Up.
February
Columbus Makes Art / Art Makes Columbus
Maggie Smith is a featured artist on the Columbus Makes Art website.
January
Kenyon Review Peter Taylor Fellowship
Maggie Smith will serve as Stanley Plumly’s Peter Taylor Fellow at the 2016 Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Maggie will assist in Plumly’s weeklong poetry workshop, conference one-on-one with participants, and give a public reading.
2015
November
Pushcart Prize Nominations
Two of Maggie Smith’s poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Thanks to Bradley K. Meyer of Pouch for nominating “Mars,” and to Helen Vitoria of Thrush for nominating “Dear.”
Kenyon Review Podcast
On the November Kenyon Review Podcast, Maggie Smith and fellow Kenyon Review consulting editor Andrew Grace discuss balancing parenting with the writing life, rewriting fairy tales, the ins and outs of the poetry manuscript consultation business, and the book-prize culture.
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
On December 12 and 13, 2015, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra will be performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. There are four sonnets that Vivaldi may have written himself–poems that are often overlooked. Maggie Smith will be reading each sonnet onstage before the music is played. Ticket information is available here.
August
Contributing Editor to the Kenyon Review
Maggie Smith is joining the Kenyon Review as a Contributing Editor.
James Wright Poetry Award
Maggie Smith will serve as the final judge for Mid-American Review‘s James Wright Poetry Award. The winner receives $1000 plus publication in MAR.
June
Poetry Manuscript Consultations
How do you make it out of the slush pile? How do you craft a book that editors believe needs to be in the world? How do you break through from finalist/semi-finalist to winning a book contest? Maggie Smith offers manuscript editing & consultation for full-length manuscripts, chapbook-length manuscripts, and individual poems. If you are gearing up for another round of book contest submissions or journal submissions and could use a fresh set of eyes on your work, please visit the Editorial page for details.
May
Review of The Well Speaks Its Own Poison
Read poet Diana Whitney’s review of The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison over at The Rumpus.
April
Spring 2016 Visiting Assistant Professorship
Maggie Smith will be joining the creative writing faculty at The Ohio State University for the Spring 2016 semester as a Visiting Assistant Professor.
Tattooed Poets Project
Maggie Smith and her black feather tattoo are on the Tattooed Poets Project, a National Poetry month feature on Bill Cohen’s blog, Tattoosday.
The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison Released by Tupelo Press
Maggie’s second book, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, selected by Kimiko Hahn as the winner of the 2012 Dorset Prize, was released by Tupelo Press on April 1, 2015.
March
Maggie Smith Wins HerStories Essay Contest
Maggie’s essay “Here Comes the Sun” won the HerStories essay contest. She received $500 and her essay will appear in the anthology Mothering Through the Darkness: Women Open Up About the Postpartum Experience (She Writes Press, forthcoming November 2015).
January
Pre-order The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison
The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison is now available for pre-order at Amazon. Of course, you may also order the book from your local independent bookseller. The book is being released on April 1, 2015.
2014
December
Sustainable Arts Foundation Fellowship Recipient
Maggie Smith has been awarded a $6000 Sustainable Arts Foundation fellowship for poems from her third book manuscript-in-progress, which is tentatively titled Weep Up. The Sustainable Arts Foundation awards fellowships to artists and writers who have at least one child under age 18.
New American Press Poetry Prize Judge
Maggie Smith is serving as the final judge for the 2015 New American Press Poetry Prize for a full-length poetry manuscript. The deadline has been extended to January 16, 2015. Visit NAP’s website for submissions guidelines and details.
2013 Dream Horse Press National Chapbook Prize Winner
Maggie Smith’s chapbook Disasterology has won the 2013 Dream Horse Press National Chapbook Prize and is forthcoming from Dream Horse Press.
Kenyon Review Peter Taylor Fellowship Recipient
Stanley Plumly selected Maggie Smith as his 2014 Peter Taylor Fellow. Maggie will assist in his weeklong poetry workshop at The Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop in June 2014.
May
Ohio Wesleyan University Young Alumni Award Recipient
Maggie Smith (OWU ’99) has been chosen as a recipient of the inaugural Ohio Wesleyan University Young Alumni Award in 2014, a new award “given to alumni who graduated in the last 15 years in recognition of a commitment to excellence in post-collegiate life and a significant or ongoing commitment to extraordinary work, research, volunteerism, or service to OWU.”
March
2014 Ohio Arts Council Fellowship Recipient
Maggie Smith is the grateful recipient of her fourth Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council.
Tupelo Quarterly Interview
The inaugural issue of Tupelo Quarterly features four poems from Maggie Smith’s forthcoming book, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, and a conversation between Maggie and Jessamyn Smyth.
2013
December
Maggie Smith in The Southern Review
Read some very kind words on The Southern Review’s blog about Maggie’s 7 poems in the Winter 2013 issue.
2012
December
Technique Talk Interview
Maggie’s Technique Talk interview with Jackie Mantey in Columbus Alive—on poems, parenthood, Bon Iver’s first album, Sol Lewitt, shadow puppets, and more—was picked up by the Poetry Foundation blog.
July
Frequency Poetry Workshop Scholarships Judge
Maggie Smith is serving as a judge for the Frequency poetry workshop scholarships along with poet Tarfia Faizullah. You can learn more about Frequency, a community arts organization based in Providence, here.
The List of Dangers Reviewed in Indiana Review
The Summer 2012 issue of Indiana Review featured editor Jennifer Luebbers’s glowing review of Maggie Smith’s The List of Dangers.
April
Poem Commissioned by Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Maggie Smith was commissioned by Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, to write a poem for the Columbus Wishing Tree Project. Watch the video for the project, which includes Maggie reading the poem, here. Read the poem, listen to the audio, and learn more about the Wishing Tree Project here.
2011
July
VCCA Residency Fellowship Recipient
Maggie Smith received a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts for a 2011 residency in Amherst, Virginia. Read more about the VCCA artist residency program here.
June
National Poetry Series Finalist
Maggie Smith’s second book manuscript was a finalist for the 2011 National Poetry Series. Forty-five finalists were chosen from more than 1300 manuscripts. Congratulations to the five winners!
May
Ohioana Book Festival Featured Author
Maggie Smith was one of ten Featured Authors at the 2011 Ohioana Book Festival.
January
Maggie Smith in Columbus Parent Magazine
Read about Maggie (and poet-in-training, Violet) in Columbus Parent.
2010
November
2011-2012 NEA Fellowship Recipient
Maggie Smith has been awarded a $25,000 Creative Writing Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. Read about Maggie and the NEA Fellowship in the Suburban News, Front Row Center, and Ohio Wesleyan University’s online newsletter.
March
2010 OAC Fellowship Recipient
Maggie Smith has been awarded a 2010 Individual Excellence Award by the Ohio Arts Council.
Maggie Smith 