Crystal Simone Smith

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

Education

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

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

• 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

• 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

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.