Clint Smith on How the Word Is Passed

Clint Smith is a celebrated poet, essayist, and staff writer at The Atlantic. He’s the author of two poetry collections, Counting Descent and Above Ground, as well as the award-winning nonfiction bestseller How the Word Is Passed. In this episode, he talks to Matthew about how he made the book accessible without losing rigor. “When I was writing the book, I wrote about eight places, but I could have written about 1,008, because the scars of slavery are etched into the landscape all around us,” he says. “I also don’t want a young person, or anybody, to look at this book and be physically overwhelmed or intimidated by the prospect of even picking it up.” To connect with the team and gain access to behind the scenes content, join our community at ⁠joincampside.com⁠. You can also find us on ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ & ⁠Youtube⁠.