Tracy K. Smith is the author of the memoir “Ordinary Light” and four books of poetry: “Wade in the Water,” which was awarded the 2019 Anisfield-Wolf Award; “Life on Mars,” winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize; “Duende,” recipient of the 2006 James Laughlin Award; and “The Body’s Question,” which won the 2002 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.
Smith served two terms as the 22nd U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts and a professor of creative writing.