“Her bold, necessary poems light up the American 20th century,” writes poet Mark Dory. Patricia Smith is the author of six highly praised books of poetry that include: Sboulda Been Jimi Savannah, awarded the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress and winner of the 2013 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; Blood Dazzler, a National Book Award finalist; Teahouse of the Almighty, a National Poetry Series winner; Close to Death; Big Towns, Big T{/lk; and Lift According to Motown, now in a special 20th-anniversary edition. She is a Cave Canem faculty member, a professor at CUNY/College of Staten Island and faculty member of the Sierra Nevada M.F.A. program