Maggie Smith is the author of eight books of poetry and prose. Her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful was an instant New York Times bestseller, was named a best book of the year by NPR, and has been translated into multiple languages. Her third book of poems, includes the viral title poem, “Good Bones,” which was read by Meryl Streep at Lincoln Center, included in an episode of the CBS primetime drama Madam Secretary, and named the Official Poem of 2016 by Public Radio International. Her latest book is Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life.

A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Maggie has also received a Pushcart Prize and numerous grants and awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her poems and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, TIME, The Nation, The Atlantic, and The Best American Poetry.

Maggie also writes a bestselling Substack newsletter, For Dear Life, and teaches on the MFA faculty of the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing. She lives her with two children in Columbus, Ohio.