Shanna L. Smith

SHANNA L. SMITH is an assistant professor in the Department of English and Modern Foreign Languages at Jackson State University, and specializes in African American Literature and Culture. A native of Kentucky, Smith joined the Affrilachian Poets in 1992, and her poems were featured in Black Bone: 25 Years of the Affrilachian Poets (2017). She has contributed to a collections of essays on Pearl Cleage (2012) and Tyler Perry (2016). Smith received her PhD from the University of Maryland College Park, her MA from the University of Kentucky, and her BA from Kentucky State University.