Clint Smithis a staff writer atThe Atlantic. He is the author of the narrative nonfiction book,How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, which was a #1New York Timesbestseller, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism, and selected by theNew York Timesas one of the 10 best books of 2021. He is also the author of the poetry collectionCounting Descent, which won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. His writing has been published inThe New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review.and elsewhere. Clint received his B.A. in English from Davidson College and a Ph.D. in Education from Harvard University.