Patricia Smith is the author of six books of poetry, including the 2008 National Book Award finalist Blood Dazzler, chronicling the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, and Teahouse of the Almighty, a National Poetry Series Selection. Her newest collection, Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah, is set to release in spring of 2012.
Smith is a Pushcart Prize winner and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam. She is a professor at the City University of New York / College of Staten Island, and is on the faculty of both Cave Canem and the MFA program of Sierra Nevada College.