William Jay Smith

William Jay Smith (22 April 1918 – 18 August 2015) was an American poet. He was the 19th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1968 to 1970. 

William Jay Smith was born in Winnfield, Louisiana. He was raised in Jackson Barracks, Missouri. Smith studied at Washington University in St. Louis.

He was of Choctaw tribal descent and penned poetry reflecting that heritage making him the first Native American to become the U.S. poet laureate.

Smith married Barbara Howes in 1947. They had two children. Howes and Smith divorced during the mid-1960s. As of 2008, he lived in two houses, one in Cummington, Massachusetts and the other in Paris.

Smith died in Lenox, Massachusetts at the age of 97.

 Related pages 
List of poets from North America

References

Other websites
"The CPR Interview: William Jay Smith", The Contemporary Poetry Review
The William Jay Smith Papers at Washington University in St. Louis 
"William Jay Smith", 2004 National Book Festival

Category:1918 births
Category:2015 deaths
Category:American poets
Category:Writers from Louisiana
Category:Writers from Missouri