Clint Smith (born in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a poet, writer, and staff writer at The Atlantic whose work addresses race, justice, incarceration, and American history. He received a BA from Davidson College and a PhD in education from Harvard University. His debut poetry collection, Counting Descent (Write Bloody Publishing, 2016), won the Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. His nonfiction book How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America (Little, Brown, 2021) was a number one New York Times bestseller. He has received a National Poetry Award, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the Art for Justice Fund and the Emerson Collective.