Author Guide · History & Poetry
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Clint Smith spent three years at Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, in August 2005, sent his family to Houston, where he finished school. He went on to teach high school English in Prince George’s County, Maryland, won a National Poetry Slam title with a team in 2014, earned a PhD in education at Harvard in 2020 and became a staff writer at The Atlantic. For How the Word Is Passed (2021) he went back to his home city and then on to Monticello, Angola prison, Galveston and Gorée Island to see how each place tells the history of slavery. That book won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Around it sit two collections of poems. This guide covers his 3 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 3 key books · 2016–2023 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Clint Smith has published three books: the poetry collections Counting Descent (2016) and Above Ground (2023), and the nonfiction book How the Word Is Passed (2021), which won the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. Start with How the Word Is Passed; read on for what each of the three books covers and how they connect.
Where to Start with Clint Smith
If you want his defining book
→ How the Word Is Passed (2021) — a journey through the places where America remembers, or forgets, slavery.
If you want the poems that came first
→ Counting Descent (2016) — growing up Black in New Orleans.
If you want poems about becoming a parent
→ Above Ground (2023) — joy and grief side by side.
3 Clint Smith Books, in Order
Counting Descent
His debut collection, published by Write Bloody in September 2016, is a coming-of-age book set largely in New Orleans. The poems move between his own upbringing and wider history, setting a community that celebrates Black life against a world that treats Blackness as something to fear. It won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award and was the 2017 One Book One New Orleans selection.
How the Word Is Passed
Smith visits places that tell, or avoid telling, the story of slavery: Monticello, the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana, Angola prison, Blandford Cemetery in Virginia, Galveston in Texas, New York City and Gorée Island off Senegal. He talks with guides, historians and visitors at each, and asks what a site chooses to remember. Published by Little, Brown on 1 June 2021, it became a number one New York Times bestseller and was among the paper’s 10 Best Books of 2021. It also won the 2022 Stowe Prize, Hillman Prize for Book Journalism and Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction.
Above Ground
His second collection, published by Little, Brown in March 2023, is about becoming a father to his two children and how that changed the way he sees the world. The poems hold private happiness next to public grief, written while raising a family during social and political upheaval. It was a New York Times bestseller and was named a best book of 2023 by TIME, NPR and the New York Public Library.
In What Order to Read Clint Smith
The three books do not continue from each other, so you can start anywhere. Publication order does show a line, though: Counting Descent asks what he learned growing up in New Orleans, How the Word Is Passed widens that question to the whole country, and Above Ground asks what he passes on to his own children.
Most readers come to him through How the Word Is Passed. If you read poetry, the two collections take an afternoon each and show the same concerns in compressed form.
A reading path
1. How the Word Is Passed (2021)
2. Counting Descent (2016)
3. Above Ground (2023)
The years · 1988–2023
Quick facts about Clint Smith
- Known for
- Clint Smith is known for travelling to the places where Americans remember slavery and asking how honestly each one tells that history.
- 1988
- Born in New Orleans
- 2005
- Hurricane Katrina; his family moves to Houston
- 2023
- Above Ground
- Born
- 25 August 1988, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Education
- BA in English, Davidson College (2010); PhD, Harvard Graduate School of Education (2020)
- Taught
- High school English in Prince George’s County, Maryland
- Works
- Staff writer at The Atlantic
- Television
- Host of Crash Course’s Black American History series (2021–2022)
- Prizes
- National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction (2021)
- Lives
- Maryland, with his wife and two children
The red mark is 2021: How the Word Is Passed, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
How Clint Smith Writes: History as a Place You Visit
How the Word Is Passed is built as a series of visits. Each chapter starts at one site, such as Monticello, the Whitney Plantation or Angola prison, and works through the people Smith meets there: tour guides, historians, inmates, visitors. The history comes in through those conversations and through the archive, rather than as a continuous survey.
He trained as a poet before he wrote prose, and both collections work the same ground as the nonfiction in short form: Counting Descent his own childhood and the history behind it, Above Ground his children and what they inherit. In the 2014 TED talk “The Danger of Silence” he described asking his students to write about the silences in their own lives.
His background as a teacher shows in how he sets out evidence and questions, and in his Crash Course Black American History series. For another writer who maps the history of race in America through people and places, see Authors like Isabel Wilkerson.
Watch
The danger of silence
Clint Smith, then a high school English teacher, speaks at TED@NYC in July 2014 about the times he stayed silent and why he now asks his students to speak.
Frequently asked questions about Clint Smith’s books
How many books has Clint Smith written?
Three: the poetry collections Counting Descent (2016) and Above Ground (2023), and the nonfiction book How the Word Is Passed (2021). An adaptation of How the Word Is Passed for young readers is listed by his publisher as forthcoming.
What are Clint Smith’s books in order?
Counting Descent (2016), How the Word Is Passed (2021) and Above Ground (2023).
Where should I start with Clint Smith?
With How the Word Is Passed, his best-known book and the clearest view of how he works. If you prefer poetry, start with Counting Descent.
What is Clint Smith’s most famous book?
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America (2021). It was a number one New York Times bestseller, one of the paper’s 10 Best Books of 2021, and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.
What places does Clint Smith visit in How the Word Is Passed?
Monticello in Virginia, the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana, Angola prison, Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia, Galveston in Texas, New York City and Gorée Island in Senegal. The book begins in his home city, New Orleans.
What awards has How the Word Is Passed won?
The 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, and in 2022 the Stowe Prize, the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction.
Is there a young readers’ edition of How the Word Is Passed?
Yes, one is on the way: How the Word Is Passed (Adapted for Young Readers), adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul, is listed by Little, Brown as coming in March 2027.
Did Clint Smith give a TED talk?
Yes. “The Danger of Silence”, given at TED@NYC in July 2014, is about the moments he stayed quiet when he should have spoken, and the poetry he asked his students to write about silence.
Is Clint Smith still alive?
Yes. He was born on 25 August 1988 in New Orleans, is a staff writer at The Atlantic and lives in Maryland with his wife and two children.
Footnotes
- Clint Smith (writer) — Wikipedia
- How the Word Is Passed — Wikipedia
- Above Ground — Hachette Book Group
- Counting Descent — Button Poetry
- How the Word Is Passed (Adapted for Young Readers) — Hachette Book Group
- The Danger of Silence transcript — Facing History & Ourselves
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Silence is the residue of fear.”
— Clint Smith, “The Danger of Silence”, TED@NYC (2014)
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