In what is now a SXSWi tradition, SMITH’s Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser took to the streets (oh fine, to the open bar) to document the oldest form of personal expression since cave painting, the witty T-shirt.
Know these nerds? Recognize your chest? Name ‘em, claim ‘em, tag them on Facebook, fave them on [...]

If you’re working on a memoir, or thinking about it—and you know we all are—two hours learning about the craft with writer Stephen Elliott are a very good idea. Elliott is the founder of The online magazine, The Rumpus, and author of seven books including the recently published, The Adderall Diaries—and the embodiment of what [...]

If you’re new around here, maybe finding us via NPR, welcome to SMITH, a community for storytellers.
We’re best known for the Six-Word Memoir project, which we started a few years ago and has taken off in ways which we could never have imagined. Dubbed “American Haiku,” Six-Word Memoirs have become a global phenomenon, found in [...]

A lot can happen in the course of a year. And with today being the day we usually spend in a state of (possibly hungover) reflection, thinking of all the little and big moments that made up the previous year, it seems appropriate to introduce a project that aims to capture all these moments for the coming [...]

Somehow, while you were still basking in the tryptophan glow of Thanksgiving, the winter holiday season began. Now that it’s December, there’s no turning back: it’s time to shop.
The trick to holiday shopping is finding a gift that suits a person’s personality without emptying your wallet. This can be an easy match when [...]

Sold! We recently teamed up with Rob Walker and Josh Glenn’s Significant Objects project to see how well Six Words works with their contention that objects with stories attached to them increase in value. The pair have recruited writers like William Gibson, Nicholson Baker, and Curtis Sittenfeld to craft significance for flotsam purchased on [...]

See the show, be the show. A few dozen Six-Word Memoirists are part of an amazing show this Tuesday, November 17 at the Highline Ballroom in New York City. We’re joining the one and only Rick Moody, master storyteller and now HBO sensation Jonathan Ames (illustrated here by Nick Bertozzi), This American Life’s Starlee Kine, [...]

If you’re a teen, have a teen, know a teen, or are suspected of once being a teen, we cordially invite you to a very special Six-Word Memoir Reading & Open Slam at the NY Public Library, this Tuesday, November 10, 5pm.
Thousands of teens have flocked to SMITH Teens to share their life stories [...]

Who can stop this obsession to chronicle the Beautiful Pregnant Women in my life? Who would want to?
No one.
Last night, I ended a yoga class with a lucky break: my instructor and pal, Kari Harendorf, was just one week away from giving birth. I only had my iphone to get the photo, but [...]

We’re not sure why, but teens seem to have a natural talent when it comes to writing six-word memoirs. And as we’ve seen before, six-word memoirs as an exercise in the classroom always turns out some really fantastic work. Continuing with this tradition are the students of Brooklyn’s own Urban Assembly New York Harbor School with [...]