As reported in the New York Post’s Page 6, I had a brush with fame with a very special storyteller who recently passed away, Frank McCourt. Since the Post had space limitations, and you highbrow SMITH readers may sometimes miss many New Yorkers’ guilty Page 6 pleasure, here’s the longer version.

I ran into indie rock star hero Jonathan Coulton when and where I usually run into him: in the wee(ish) hours of the morning at Gorilla Coffee, the Brooklyn institution that fuels more than a few entrepreneurial efforts. I’d beeen after him for weeks now, encouraging him, with increasing enthusiasm (some might say “aggression”) [...]

Here’s a preview of one of the illustrated six-word memoirs from the sequel to Not Quite What I Was Planning, coming out this January. It comes from the incredible mind and hand of Rick Parker, best known as the artist of MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head Comic Book, and veteran of Marvel Comics. Rick also illustrated [...]

We had quite a response to “The Jackson 6: Six-Word Obits for MJ,” receiving more than 450 submissions via email, Facebook, over at The Huffington Post, and above all in the comments section of my original post. We couldn’t pick just three, so we’ve decided upon these five across five themes which popped up [...]

It’s been said by many, including the editors of SMITH, that a six-word memoir can be a lot like an epitaph, the ultimate summation of one’s life. We’ve always been fascinated by obits of the famous and obscure alike. Now, by popular demand, we’re starting a new reader challenge category: Six-Word Obits. There’s only [...]

Memoir: Engaged in Jerusalem. Thank you, God.
Epilogue: In truth, had always been rabbi-curious.

When I first told my coworkers that I’d be flying from Houston to New York to read my six-word memoir, I got various responses, ranging from “That is sooooo cool!” to “You’re flying 2,000 miles to do what?”
Then there was this response, to which I wasn’t sure how to react: “Oh, that’s nice. Have you [...]

A little while ago, the amazing Stephen Elliott invited SMITH to collaborate with The Rumpus and McSweeney’s on a mindblowing variety show to coincide with Book Expo America. The resulting event, You’re Not Alone, was this weekend, and it was a charming beacon of optimism in an insecure moment for the book industry.
Todd Barry [...]

SMITH teamed up with truuconfessions and Postcard from Yo Momma for a six-word challenge about all things Mom. Once again, your six words spanned the emotional waterfront from hilarious (”Key West: I’m eight, she’s topless”) to intense (”Loved her. Hated her. Became her”). We have two grand-prize winners. In the MOMoir About Being a [...]

At our Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak book reading in Denver a few months ago, we got a chance to meet up with Julian Rubinstein, proud six-word memoirist and author of Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts (one of [...]