#  Tracy K. Smith 

Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, Professor of African and African American Studies

Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute

*Currently accepting graduate student advisees

(On leave AY 2026-27)

 

 

 



   ![Tracy K Smith Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-06/Tracy%20K%20Smith%20author%20Photo%20credit%20Andrew%20Kelly%20%281%29.jpg?itok=258Oa_pd) 

 



 

 location\_on Barker Center 214 

 smartphone [617-496-0573](tel:617-496-0573) 

 email <tksmith@fas.harvard.edu> 

 laptop\_windows [www.tracyksmithpoet.com](http://www.tracyksmithpoet.com) 

 

Office hours: By appointment

Pronouns: She/her/hers

 

 



 

Education: B.A., Harvard College (1994)   
M.F.A., Columbia University (1997)

Interests: American poetry; African American poetry; creative writing; literary criticism; translation

Selected Works:   
*Fear Not: Poetry in Perilous Times* (2025), *To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul* (2023), *Such Color: New and Selected Poems* (2021); *Wade in the Water* (2018); *Ordinary Light* (2015); *Life on Mars* (2011); *Duende* (2007); *The Body's Question* (2003)



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Role
    
     [Faculty](/role/faculty)