Tracy K. Smith

Tracy K. Smith is a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute and a professor of English and of African and African American Studies in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Smith received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her third book of poems, Life on Mars. She was a finalist for the National Book Award for nonfiction for the memoir Ordinary Light. Smith served two terms as poet laureate of the United States (2017–2019), during which time she traveled across America, hosting poetry readings and conversations in rural communities. During her laureateship, she edited the anthology American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time and launched the American Public Media podcast The Slowdown. She is a member the American Academy of Arts and Letters.