When William Gardner Smith’s first novel,
Last of the Conquerors, was published in 1948, he was only twenty-one years old. The book became a critical and commercial success, and the young writer seemed to be the heir apparent to Richard Wright, perhaps the most famous African American author of his time, but this promise was never realized. Though Smith claimed to have written ten novels in his short lifetime, only four, and one book of non-fiction, were ever published. He did go on to become a successful journalist, however, writing not only for various African-American publications, but also, after his expatriation in 1951, for the French news service Agence France Presse (AFP). Today, he is primarily remembered for journalistic pieces about the black expatriate community in Paris in…
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Citation: Weik von Mossner, Alexa. "William Gardner Smith". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 December 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4129, accessed 10 November 2024.]