Dinitia Smith

Dinita Smith
Born	Cumberland, Maryland
Occupation	Author
Nationality	United States

Dinitia Smith (born December 26, 1945) is an American author and filmmaker. She was previously a culture reporter for The New York Times.

Biography

Dinitia Smith was born in Cumberland, Maryland and raised primarily in Great Britain, where her father was a journalist. She came to the United States in 1959 and lived in New York City and Westchester. After graduating from Smith College,^[1] she worked as a reporter for the Associated Press in New York.^[2] She enrolled in the New York University Film School and in 1971 obtained a Masters of Fine Arts. That year, she wrote and directed her first film, Passing Quietly Through, under her then-married name McCarthy.^[3] That film was one of the first films by a woman to be chosen for the New York Film Festival. Smith continued to make documentaries, including some with American documentary filmmaker, David Grubin,^[4] and also wrote several screenplays.^[5] Her films have been shown at the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Modern Art.^[6]

In 1975, Smith won an Emmy Award for a film she made for WNBC – TV.^[7] She published her first novel, The Hard Rain, in 1980. Her second novel, Remember This, won her fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts^[8] and the Ingram Merrill Foundation.^[9] Her short fiction has been published in numerous literary journals.^[10][11]

Smith was also a contributing editor at New York magazine;^[12] from 1995 to 2006 she worked for The New York Times, where she wrote about arts and intellectual trends and ideas.^[13] Her third novel, The Illusionist, was published in 1997 ^[14] and her upcoming novel, The Honeymoon is set to be published in early 2016 by Other Press.^[15]

Smith has taught at Columbia University and the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference.^[16]

Personal life

Smith is married to David Nasaw,^[17] an author and historian, and the Arthur M. Schlesinger Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has twin sons: Peter Caleb Nasaw (b. 1980), a social worker,^[18] and journalist Daniel Allen Nasaw (b. 1980).^[19]

Bibliography

• The Hard Rain, Dial Press (1980) ISBN 9780803734098
• Remember This, Henry Holt & Co (1989) ISBN 9780805010367
• The Illusionist, Scribner (1997) ISBN 9780684843292
• The Honeymoon (forthcoming with Other Press, Spring, 2016) ISBN 9781590517789

References

1. "Smith College: NewsSmith". www.smith.edu. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
2. "The Daily Mail, Hagerstown, MD". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
3. "Passing-Quietly-Through - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
4. "Somerset Daily American". Retrieved 6 Nov 2015.
5. McAllister, Gwyn. "Homosexual witch hunt the subject of a new play". Martha's Vineyard Times. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
6. "Art Workshop International". Retrieved 6 Nov 2015.
7. "18th Annual New York Emmy Awards Winners". New York Emmy Awards. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
8. "Dinitia Smith". National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
9. "Dinitia Smith". Creative Writing Program. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
10. "Magic". www.hudsonreview.com. Retrieved 6 Nov 2015.
11. "Valentine's Day". www.nereview.com. Retrieved 6 Nov 2015.
12. "Dinitia Smith, "The Puritans"". New York Magazine. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
13. "Dinita Smith Leaves Full-Time Post at NYT". GalleyCat. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
14. "Notable Books of the Year 1997". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
15. ""Book Deals: Week of April 13, 2015". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 6 Nov 2015.
16. "Faculty Details: Dinitia Smtih". Art Workshop International. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
17. "Layla Moughari, Daniel Nasaw". The New York Times. 2014-08-31. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
18. "NASAW PETER CALEB - NY - Social Worker Lookup". www.socialworkerlookup.com. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
19. "Nasaw, David 1945- - Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series | HighBeam Research". www.highbeam.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.