Danez Smith

Danez Smith was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and received an MFA from the University of Michigan. They are the author of Homie (Graywolf Press, 2020); Don’t Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017), which was short-listed for the National Book Award; and [insert] boy (YesYes Books, 2014), winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry.

The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, Smith is also the winner of a Pushcart Prize. They co-host the podcast VS alongside Franny Choi. Smith lives in Minneapolis.