How to Come Home Again | Katy Simpson Smith | TEDxJackson

The cycle of lifting off and coming home is a common theme in life and literature. This gifted young writer shares her ideas about the relationship between self and place and the meaning that can arise when we return home in spite of, or even because of, the problems that drove us away. The result is an homage to our community and the people who never stop fighting to make it better.

Katy Simpson Smith was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. She attended Mount Holyoke College and received a PhD in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. She is the author of We Have Raised All of You: Motherhood in the South, 1750-1835, The Story of Land and Sea, and Free Men.

Set in a small coastal town in North Carolina during the waning years of the American Revolution, The Story of Land and Sea follows three generations of family—fathers and daughters, mother and son, master and slave, characters who yearn for redemption amidst times of war, kidnapping, slavery, and love.

Her second novel, Free Men, was published in 2016. In response to Free Men, author Joseph J. Ellis referred to her as, "The most sophisticated historical novelist of her generation."

Smith lives in New Orleans and served as an adjunct professor at Tulane University before the publication of her novel.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx