“More than anything else in the world, I wanted to be a writer. I didn’t want to learn to write, of course. I just wanted to be a writer, and I often pictured myself poised at the foggy edge of a cliff somewhere in the south of France, wearing a cape, drawing furiously on a long cigarette, hollow-cheeked and haunted. I had been romantically dedicated to the grand idea of ‘being a writer’ ever since I can remember.” — Lee Smith. [1]
For Lee Smith, writing was something she wanted to do for as long as she could remember. Born on November 1, 1944, in the small coal-mining town of Grundy, Virginia, Smith grew up surrounded by the people, stories, and traditions that would later shape much of her fiction. Her love of storytelling started early. At just nine years old, she wrote short stories and sold them to neighbors for a nickel each, already finding ways to share her imagination with others.
Smith attended Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia, where she studied English literature and from which she graduated in 1967. While still a student, she submitted a manuscript to a Book-of-the-Month Club writing competition and won a fellowship. That manuscript eventually became her first novel, The Last Day the Dogbushes Bloomed, which was published in 1968. The novel marked the beginning of a long and successful writing career.
After college, Smith spent several years teaching at both the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University. Although she later left full-time teaching, she has remained involved with North Carolina’s literary community through workshops, readings, and university events. Her connection to the state has remained strong throughout her career.
Much of Smith’s writing draws from her Appalachian background. Her novels and short stories often focus on the lives of people living in small Southern communities, especially women trying to find their place in a changing world. Through these characters, Smith explores family relationships, religion, tradition, and the challenges of balancing personal freedom with community expectations. Her work is known for capturing the voices and experiences of Appalachian people with honesty, humor, and compassion.
Over the years, Smith has earned recognition as one of the most important writers of southern and Appalachian literature. She received the North Carolina Award for Literature in 1984, the Weatherford Award for Appalachian Literature in 1988, and the Robert Penn Warren Prize for Fiction in 1991. In 2009, she was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame, recognizing her lasting contributions to American literature.
Smith’s novels include The Last Day the Dogbushes Bloomed (1968), Something in the Wind (1971), Black Mountain Breakdown (1980), Oral History (1983), Family Linen (1985), Fair and Tender Ladies (1988), The Devil’s Dream (1992), Saving Grace (1995), The Christmas Letters (1996), The Last Girls (2003), On Agate Hill (2006), Guests on Earth (2013), Blue Marlin (2020), and Silver Alert (2023). She has also published several short story collections, including Cakewalk (1981), Me and My Baby View the Eclipse (1990), News of the Spirit (1997), and Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger (2010).
Following her years in higher education, Smith and her husband, journalist and author Hal Crowther, settled in a historic home in downtown Hillsborough, North Carolina. Today, her work continues to be widely read and studied. By drawing on the people and places she knew growing up, Lee Smith has helped preserve Appalachian culture and has given readers stories that feel both deeply personal and widely relatable.