BUFFALO, NY – The Canisius University Contemporary Writers Series will welcome bestselling author, poet and scholar Clint Smith to campus on Tuesday, October 17. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the Montante Cultural Center. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and seating is first come, first served. A question-and-answer session and reception will follow the reading.
Smith was born and raised in New Orleans, and earned a BA in English from Davidson College and a PhD in education from Harvard University. He is the author of How the World is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, a #1 New York Times bestseller and 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award-winner for nonfiction. Smith is also the author of two poetry collections: Counting Descent and Above Ground. His essays, poems and scholarly writings have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic and the Paris Review. He is currently a staff writer at The Atlantic.
Founded with a grant from the John R. Oishei Foundation and continued through the Peter Canisius Distinguished Teaching Professorship Program, the Contemporary Writers Series is generously supported today by the Hassett, Scoma and Lowery Endowments and with the cooperation of The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Just Buffalo Literary Center, the Center for Urban Education and Talking Leaves Books.
For more information or to watch a live stream of the event, Email Mick Cochrane, professor of English and coordinator of the Contemporary Writers Series, at @email.
Canisius was founded in 1870 in Buffalo, NY, and is one of 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. Consistently ranked among the top institutions in the Northeast, Canisius offers undergraduate, graduate and pre-professional programs distinguished by close student-faculty collaboration, mentoring and an emphasis on ethical, purpose-driven leadership.
