The Clark County Poet Laureate has partnered with the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, Black Mountain Institute, and other sponsors to bring Tracy K. Smith, sitting Poet Laureate of the United States to Clark County as part of the Poetry Promise Reading Series (formerly Poets of National Stature readings)!
Writing Workshop: Saturday, 9/29/18, 12:30-2:30 PM at Winchester Cultural Center (3130 McLeod Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89121)
Featured Reading: Saturday, 9/29/18, 7:00-8:30 PM at the West Charleston Public Library (6301 W Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89146)
Tracy K. Smith was born in Massachusetts and raised in Northern California. In June 2017, Smith was named U.S. Poet Laureate. She teaches Creative Writing at Princeton University. She earned a B.A. from Harvard University and an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. From 1997 to 1999, she held a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. Smith is the author of four books of poetry: The Body’s Question (2003), which won the Cave Canem prize for the best first book by an African-American poet; 
Duende (2007), winner of the James Laughlin Award and the ESSENCE Literary Award; Life on Mars (2011), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; and Wade in the Water (forthcoming, April 2018). In 2014, she was awarded the Academy of American Poets fellowship. She has also written a memoir, Ordinary Light (2015), which was a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction.
Tracy K. Smith was interviewed for an article by NPR after her appointment as Poet Laureate. The New York Times also published a superb interview with her. In a profile by feminist media brand MAKERS, she discussed her major influences as a poet, the highlights of her career, and the birth of her daughter.