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Crystal Simone Smith

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Smith at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.. (2026)

Crystal Simone Smith is an American poet, scholar, and educator. She teaches academic writing at Duke University.[1]

Education

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Born in Takoma Park, Maryland and educated in Prince George's County Schools, Smith[2] relocated in her senior year of high school to North Carolina where she attended Bennett College and University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She completed a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Queens University of Charlotte in 2011.[3]

Career

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Smith is a multifaceted poet who experiments across forms writing free verse,[4] visual poetry, and Japanese forms[5] with a central focus on the practice of haiku writing.[6] Her work has appeared in POETRY Magazine,[7]Rattle,[8] Harper's Magazine,[9] Frogpond, The Heron's Nest,[10] and Modern Haiku.

In 2022, her collection of haiku, Ebbing Shore, won The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Distinguished Book Award.[11] In the same year, poems from Runagate: Songs of the Freedom Bound were set to music by composer Shawn Okpebholo. The songset premiered at The Metropolitan Museum of Art[12] and the subsequent contemporary classical album, Songs in Flight,[13] was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2025.[14]

Her publication Runagate: Songs of the Freedom Bound [15] (Duke University Press) won the 2025 Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Award.

Smith is the 36th President of the Haiku Society of America; she was appointed in 2025.[16][17]

Works

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  • Ghost Woman: A Rising, 2027. Durham, NC: Duke University Press (forthcoming) ISBN 978-1478034087
  • Common Sense,[18] 2026. Boston, MA: Beacon Press/Penguin Random House. (forthcoming) ISBN 978-0807023389
  • Runagate: Songs of the Freedom Bound, 2025. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-1478031819
  • Dark Testament,[19] 2023. New York, NY: Henry Holt-MacMillan. ISBN 1250854369
  • Ebbing Shore, 2022. Haiku. Durham, NC: Horse & Buggy Press. ISBN 978-1478031819
  • Down To Earth, (chapbook) 2021. Longleaf Press. ISBN 978-1734398519
  • Running Music, (chapbook) 2014. Longleaf Press. ISBN 978-0982929094
  • Route's Home, (chapbook) 2013. Finishing Line Press. ISBN 978-1622293865

Awards and honors

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  • Roanoke-Chowan Book Award, North Carolina Literary & Historical Association, 2025[20]
  • Durham Arts Council Artist Support Grant, 2025[citation needed]
  • Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Pentaculum Writing Residency, 2025[citation needed]
  • The Children’s Book Council Notable Social Studies List Award, 2024[21]
  • Missouri Association of School Librarians’ Dogwood Reading List, 2024[citation needed]
  • North Carolina Poetry Society Poetry of Courage Award, 2024[citation needed]
  • The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Distinguish Book Award, 2022[22]
  • Duke University Humanities Unbounded Fellowship, 2020-2022[23]
  • North Carolina Poetry Society Bloodroot Haiku Award, 1st place, 2019[citation needed]
  • Ashber Initiatives Literary Arts Grant Award, 2016[citation needed]

References

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  1. ↑ "Crystal Simone Smith | Scholars@Duke profile". scholars.duke.edu. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  2. ↑ "Crystal Simone Smith |". Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  3. ↑ "Crystal Simone Smith | Scholars@Duke profile: Credentials". scholars.duke.edu. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  4. ↑ Klahre, Ayn-Monique (2024-01-31). "February 2024 Poem: Southern Comforts". WALTER Magazine. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  5. ↑ Museum, Ackland Art (2023-04-08). "Springtime in Verse with Crystal Simone Smith". Ackland Art Museum. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  6. ↑ "Haiku Northwest - Crystal Simone Smith". www.haikunorthwest.org. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  7. ↑ "Black Mothers and Sons". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  8. ↑ "[honeysuckle breeze] and Other Haiku by Crystal Simone Smith - Rattle: Poetry". Rattle Poetry. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  9. ↑ "Birds to Song, by Crystal Simone Smith". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  10. ↑ "The Heron's Nest - Volume XXII, Number 3: September 2020". www.theheronsnest.com. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  11. ↑ Smith, Robin (2023-04-17). "2022 Touchstone Awards for Distinguished Books — Awarded and Honorable Mentions". The Haiku Foundation. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  12. ↑ "Engagement Met Museum". engage.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  13. ↑ "Review: Songs That Defy the 'Quotidian Nature of Evil' (Published 2023)". 2023-01-13. Archived from the original on 2025-01-23. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  14. ↑ "Column | 2025 in classical music: A year of small triumphs, against all odds". The Washington Post. 2025-12-09. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  15. ↑ "Runagate: Songs of the Freedom Bound". www.dukeupress.edu. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  16. ↑ "Black history through haiku: Crystal Simone Smith's 'Runagate: Songs of the Freedom Bound'". The Duke Chronicle. 2025-09-30. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  17. ↑ "Officers of the Haiku Society of America". www.hsa-haiku.org. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
  18. ↑ "Common Sense (1776), Addressed to Today's Citizens of America by Crystal Simone Smith: 9780807023389 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  19. ↑ "Dark Testament : Blackout Poems by Crystal Simone Smith". www.mclib.info. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  20. ↑ "2025 North Carolina Book Award Recipients Announced | NC DNCR". www.dncr.nc.gov. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  21. ↑ "Yukie's Island". cbcbooks.org. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  22. ↑ Smith, Robin (2023-04-17). "2022 Touchstone Awards for Distinguished Books — Awarded and Honorable Mentions". The Haiku Foundation. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
  23. ↑ "Crystal Simone Smith | Humanities Unbounded". humanitiesunbounded.duke.edu. Retrieved 2026-01-05.
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