Dinitia Smith | |
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| Born | (1945-12-26)December 26, 1945 (age 79) Cumberland, Maryland, U.S. |
| Other names | Dinitia McCarthy |
| Education | New York University Film School |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1971–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Emmy Award, 1975 |
Dinitia Smith (born December 26, 1945) is an American author and filmmaker.
Smith was born inCumberland, Maryland, and raised primarily inGreat Britain, where her father was a journalist. She came to the United States in 1959, and lived inNew York City and Westchester. After graduating fromSmith College,[1] she worked as a reporter for theAssociated Press in New York.[2] She enrolled in theNew York University Film School, and in 1971 obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree.
In 1971, 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 theNew 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 theWhitney Museum and theMuseum of Modern Art.[6]
In 1975, Smith won anEmmy Award for a film she made forWNBC–TV.[7] She published her first novel,The Hard Rain, in 1980. Her second novel,Remember This, won her fellowships from theNational Endowment for the Arts[8] and theIngram Merrill Foundation.[9] Her short fiction has been published in numerous literary journals.[10][11]
Smith was also a contributing editor atNew York magazine;[12] from 1995 to 2006, she worked forThe New York Times, where she wrote about arts and intellectual trends and ideas.[13] Her third novel,The Illusionist, published in 1997, was aNew York Times Notable Book of the Year.[14]
The Honeymoon, her biographical novel about the 19th-century writerGeorge Eliot, was published in 2016.The New York Times wrote that "Smith's enchanting account humanizes a figure renowned as much for her refutation of conventional female stereotypes and social limitations as for her genius for story and language".[15] A reviewer forThe Washington Post called the book "the perfect example of when fictional storytelling about an eminent person is warranted".[16]
Smith's fifth novel,The Prince (Arcade Publishing, 2022), is a contemporary retelling ofHenry James'sThe Golden Bowl. NPR calledThe Prince "a winner …a compelling story of sexual obsession and the expectations and tolerances of society.”[17] NovelistLee Child describedThe Prince as "Beautiful, elegant and delicate".[18] The National Book Review called the novel "deliciously satisfying".[19]
Smith has taught atColumbia University and theBread Loaf Writers' Conference.[20]
Smith has been married to historian and authorDavid Nasaw since 1978. It is a second marriage for both.[21] They have two sons.[22][23]
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