Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith, born on October 27, 1975, is a celebrated British author known for her insightful exploration of race, class, and multiculturalism. She grew up in Willesden Green, a diverse suburb of London, and her background as the daughter of a white English father and a black Jamaican mother profoundly influences her work. Smith first gained prominence with her debut novel, *White Teeth*, which became a bestseller and introduced readers to complex characters navigating friendship and cultural identity. Over her career, she has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize.
In addition to her novels, Smith has written essays and criticism, contributing to major publications like the New Yorker. Her later works, such as *NW* and *Swing Time*, continue to delve into themes of race and community with a unique narrative style. Smith has also ventured into playwriting, with her first play, *The Wife of Wilesden*, debuting in 2021, and her historical novel, *The Fraud*, published in 2023. A tenured professor at New York University, Smith balances her literary pursuits with family life, living between New York City and London with her husband, poet Nick Laird, and their two children.
Zadie Smith
English novelist, essayist, and short fiction writer.
- Born: October 27, 1975
- Place of Birth: London, England
Biography
Zadie Smith was born on October 27, 1975. Originally named Sadie, she was the daughter of a white English father and a black Jamaican mother. She grew up in Willesden Green, a multicultural suburb northwest of London where she later set her first novel, White Teeth. She had two half-siblings from her father’s first marriage and two younger brothers. Sadie changed her name to Zadie when she was a teenager, liking the more exotic sound the letter change gave to the name.
Smith’s ambition as a child was to perform in musical theater; she studied tap dancing for many years. Realizing that the types of productions she most admired were no longer being made, she gradually shifted her interest to writing. Her parents divorced while she was a teenager. She graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in English, and wrote White Teeth while still a student there. She was a Radcliffe Institute Fellow at Harvard University in 2002–3, taking graduate courses in English literature. Smith married the poet Nick Laird in 2004, and the two moved to North London.
The rights to White Teeth were purchased before the book was completed, and the novel was a bestseller and a critical success. The book chronicles the friendship of white, working-class Archie, from London, and Samad, a Muslim from Bangladesh. Smith participated in a writer-in-residence program at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London following the success of her first novel. Some shorter, erotic pieces written during that time are collected in Piece of Flesh (2001).
Smith’s second novel, The Autograph Man (2002), has as its main character a half-Jewish, half-Chinese man who collects autographs of famous people. After taking time for graduate study and writing literary criticism, Smith returned to fiction for her third novel, On Beauty (2005). Smith was awarded the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book), the W. H. Smith Award for Best New Talent, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the 2003 Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Fiction. She was short-listed for the Authors’ Club First Novel Award, The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and the Orange Prize for Fiction (2001 and 2003).
Literary critic James Wood coined the term "hysterical realism" to describe White Teeth. The term caught on with critics, and Smith has agreed that its definition fits her prose. Hysterical realism is characterized by manic characters and frequent digressions from the main plotline. The overblown treatment of subject matter is combined with realistic or even journalistic material.
Smith was included on several lists of the most promising young writers in Britain. Her fiction is noted not only for its stylistic interest and humor, but also for her treatment of race as subject matter. Her multiracial characters break free of racial stereotypes; race in the novels is not a static quantity that defines or limits the characters.
Smith took a break from fiction for a number of years, though she continued to write. In 2009 she published a nonfiction collection, Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays. She discusses writing, personal stories, and a range of cultural topics and figures, from President Barack Obama to feminism. Smith joined the faculty of the creative writing program at New York University as a tenured professor. Smith has also taught at Columbia University.
In 2012, Smith published her fourth novel, NW, named for the postal code of the London borough that serves as its setting. In the novel, Smith returns again to Willesden. The book is divided into four parts, each following a different character, all of whom grew up in the same housing estate. NW's form is more experimental than her previous works, but sees Smith exploring again, with irony and wisdom, the state of race and class relations.
In 2013, she published a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia. Smith published her fifth novel, Swing Time, in November 2016. The work further explored many of Smith's trademark themes, including race, class, and friendship. Smith is also a contributor to the New Yorker, a position she has held since 1999. In 2021, the author published her first play, The Wife of Wilesden.
Smith announced in 2023, that she had been working on a historical novel since 2020. The novel was based on the life of Arthur Orton, who was heavily involved in a nineteenth century court case regarding identity theft. The novel, entitled The Fraud, was published in 2023. That same year, Smith was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Zadie Smith married her husband, Nick Laird, in 2004. Laird is a poet, novelist, and professor at Columbia University. The couple have two children, Katherine and Harvey. They live in New York City and London.
Author Works
Edited texts:
Piece of Flesh, 2001
The Book of Other People, 2008
Long Fiction:
White Teeth, 2000
The Autograph Man, 2002
On Beauty, 2005
NW, 2012
Swing Time, 2016
The Wife of Wilesden, 2021
The Fraud, 2023
Nonfiction:
Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, 2009
Fences: A Brexit Diary, 2016
Bibliography
Edemariam, Aida. "Learning Curve." Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 2 Sept. 2005. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
Eugenides, Jeffrey. "The Pieces of Zadie Smith." New York Times Magazine, 17 Oct. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/t-magazine/zadie-smith-swing-time-jeffrey-eugenides.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
"New Members Elected in 2023: American Academy of Arts & Sciences." American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2023, www.amacad.org/news/2023-member-announcement. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Wood, Gaby. "The Return of Zadie Smith." Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 25 Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
Smith, Zadie. "In Conversation with Zadie Smith." Interview by Eleanor Wachtel. Brick. Canada Council for the Arts, Winter 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
Wood, James. "James Woods' Classic Takedown of Faux-Dickensian 'Hysterical Realism.'" New Republic. New Republic, 24 July 2000. Web. 24 Mr. 2016.
"Zadie Smith." British Council: Literature. British Council, 2016. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.