Suzi Q. Smith: Writing Your Own Gospel

Sam Field and Tiffanie Drayton chat with Suzi Q. Smith, author of A Gospel of Bones, about finding beauty in difficult experiences, creating your own gospel, and the revealing power of poetry. Suzi Q. Smith is an award-winning multihyphenate artist, educator, and organizer who lives in Denver, Colorado. She is the author of two poetry collections, Poems for the End of the World and A Gospel of Bones (winner of the 2019 Electric Press Award), and the chapbook Thirteen Descansos. She is also the coeditor of two anthologies, Tell It Slant: An Anthology of Creative Nonfiction by Writers from Colorado’s Prisons and All the Lives We Ever Lived, Volume I, both finalists for the Colorado Book Award. A Pushcart-nominated essayist, Smith holds an MFA in creative writing from Randolph College. The recipient of the 2023 Beacon Award for Excellence in Teaching, Smith is a faculty member at Lighthouse Writers Workshop and Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and serves as writing director at Château d’Orquevaux in France. She received the 2024 Social Impact Artist Award from the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation and Denver Arts & Venues, as well as the 2018 Denver Foundation Swanee Hunt Leadership Award. She has worked with arts and cultural organizations in Denver and around the United States for nearly three decades. Links Website A Gospel of Bones Instagram Substack This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit literarymama.substack.com