In our loftiest literary dreams, all poetry would be written in the great outdoors with an antique typewriter resting atop a small wooden desk. Following composition, the author would read the work aloud with passion and conviction to an eager and captivated audience.
In South Florida, this utopian vision is a reality—but not without a fee! [...]

If you’re a collector of vintage clothing, you know that more often than not, an old item can give you a glimpse into the life of the previous owner. A lingering smell of perfume, a sewn on patch or a cigarette burn, these relics have the power to change a common place garment into [...]

We fancy ourselves the brainchild of both old and new media, conceived from old-fashioned storytelling and powered by the instantaneous world of tweets, and blog-a-zines. Stemming from similar origins, Longshot Magazine, formerly known as 48HR Mag (CBS, please don’t sue us!), takes a traditional journalistic medium–the magazine–and uses the newest tools, mixed with raw ambition, [...]

With Harvey Pekar’s 70th birthday fast approaching this past fall, SMITH comcs editor Jeff Newelt had a great notion: Let’s see if we can arrange for 70 artists who heart Harvey to each render a “Harvey Head”, and then surprise him on his big day. I thought Newelt was nuts to think he could coordinate [...]

Above: a very moving video of Ella Mae Cheeks Johnson, the retired social worker who, at the age of 105, confined to a wheelchair, traveled from Cleveland to Washington, DC to witness Barack Obama take the oath of office on January 20, 2009. She died last week, March 24, at the age of 106.
Today is [...]

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 [...]