Award-Winning Author

Award-Winning Author

'How the Word is Passed' Writer Clint Smith to Present Free Reading Oct. 14 at Ohio Wesleyan

DELAWARE, Ohio - Author, journalist, poet, and educator Clint Smith, best known for his book "How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America," will speak Oct. 14 at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Smith, Ph.D., will present a free reading in the Benes Rooms inside OWU's Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. His presentation - An Evening with Clint Smith: Stories, History, Culture - is the 2025-2026 Katherine Kearney Carpenter Lecture sponsored by the Ohio Wesleyan Department of English.

He is a staff writer for The Atlantic, as well as the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of "How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America." The book earned the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism, the Stowe Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and was selected by The New York Times as one of the 10 Best Books of 2021. An adaptation for young readers was released on Sept. 30.

Smith also is the author of two books of poetry, the New York Times-bestselling collection "Above Ground" and "Counting Descent." Both won the Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and were finalists for NAACP Image Awards.

His essays, poems, and scholarly writing have been published in outlets including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, and the Harvard Educational Review. He is a former National Poetry Slam champion and a recipient of the Jerome J. Shestack Prize from the American Poetry Review. Smith also hosts the YouTube series "Crash Course Black American History."

He received his Bachelor of Arts in English from Davidson College and his Ph.D. in Education from Harvard University. Learn more at https://www.clintsmithiii.com.

Ohio Wesleyan's Carpenter Lecture Series was established in 1967 with an endowment from the late O. William Carpenter in honor of his wife, Katherine Kearney Carpenter. Previous Carpenter Lecturers include Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom Carol Ann Duffy; National Book Award winners Ta-Nehisi Coates, William Stafford, Tim O'Brien, Amy Tan, and Joyce Carol Oates; 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Seamus Heaney; New York Times bestselling essayist Leslie Jamison; Nobel Prize-winning poet-playwright Derek Walcott; and former U.S. Poet Laureate Howard Nemerov. Other writers in the series have included Carlos Fuentes, Russell Banks, Tobias Wolff, and Kurt Vonnegut.

Learn more about Ohio Wesleyan's Department of English at owu.edu/English.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation's premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 70 undergraduate majors and competes in 24 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through its signature experience, the OWU Connection, Ohio Wesleyan teaches students to understand issues from multiple academic perspectives, volunteer in service to others, build a diverse and global perspective, and translate classroom knowledge into real-world experience through internships, research, and other hands-on learning. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book "Colleges That Change Lives" and included on the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review "Best Colleges" lists. Connect with OWU expert interview sources at owu.edu/experts or learn more at owu.edu.