Poet, essayist Maggie Smith launches writing book on creativity and craft!

New York Times bestselling author, essayist, and award-winning poet Maggie Smith distills creativity and the craft of writing in her new book, . Maggie will be in conversation with New York Times bestselling novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Connie Schultz.

The purchase of Dear Writer waives the $10 registration fee.

DREXEL THEATRE, OHIO POETRY ASSOCIATION, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, OSU CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM, and DENISON UNIVERSITY are Gramercy’s Community Partners for this program.

Says #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert: “Oh, how I wish I'd had access to this book thirty-five years ago, when I was just starting out as a writer! Maggie Smith has created an offering here of great substance and generosity—walking writers of all ages (and of all levels) through the sometimes wild and terrifying landscape of literary endeavor. With encouraging words, stories from her own life, and—best of all—exercises that are actually helpful, she lends a hand to all. I admire this book, and its author, with all my heart.”

Drawing from her twenty years of teaching experience and her bestselling Substack newsletter, For Dear Life, Maggie Smith breaks down creativity into ten essential elements: attention, wonder, vision, play, surprise, vulnerability, restlessness, tenacity, connection, and hope. Each element is explored through short, inspiring, and craft-focused essays, followed by generative writing prompts. Dear Writer provides tools that artists of all experience levels can apply to their own creative practices and carry with them into all genres and all areas of life.

Maggie Smith is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of eight books of poetry and prose, including You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Keep Moving, and My Thoughts Have Wings. A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has also received a Pushcart Prize, and numerous grants and awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has been widely published, appearing in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Nation, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Best American Poetry, and more. You can follow her on social media @MaggieSmithPoet.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and Professor of Practice in Journalism at Denison University. Her favorite job title is Grandma. She is the author of a collection of essays, Life Happens, and a political memoir, …and His Lovely Wife. Her first novel, The Daughters of Erietown, was a New York Times bestseller in 2020. Her debut picture book, Lola and the Troll, was released in February 2024. Schultz lives in Cleveland with her husband, Sherrod Brown, and their two rescue dogs, Franklin and Walter. They have four children and eight grandchildren.

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