Dave Smith primarily teaches in the area of contemporary poetry in the English language, although he has taught seminars in 19th century American poetry and 20th century American fiction. He is the author of Little Boats, Unsalvaged (Louisiana State University Press, 2005), his 14th collection of poetry, The Wick of Memory, New and Selected Poems, 1970-2000 (Louisiana State University Press, 2000), Onliness (novel, Louisiana State University Press, 1981), Southern Delights (stories, Croissant & Co., Ltd., 1984), and two collections of essays: Local Assays: On Contemporary American Poetry (University of Illinois Press, 1985) and Hunting Men: A Life in the Life of Poetry (Louisiana State University Press), which is forthcoming in 2006. He was the editor of The Southern Review from 1990-2002, at Louisiana State University, where he was also the Boyd Professor of English, and has edited The Essential Poe (Ecco, 1991), The William Morrow Anthology of Younger American Poets (William Morrow and Co., 1985) and The Pure Clear Word: Essays on the Poetry of James Wright (University of Illinois Press, 1981). Currently, he is the editor of the Southern Messenger Poetry Series at Louisiana State University. Smith has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in Poetry, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Lyndhurst Fellowship as well as the Virginia Prize in Poetry and an Award in Poetry from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He is an elected member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.
