Zadie Smith

Shantel Edwards (University of Birmingham); Revised By: Jonathan P. A. Sell (Universidad de Alcala de Henares)

Ed. by Cristina Sandru, The Literary Encyclopedia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 25 Oct 1975
Activity 2000-ongoing

Places

Born in England
Active in United Kingdom

Cultural Identities

Black British

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Smith's Works

Save to Bookshelf

The publication of

White Teeth

in 2000 made British author Zadie Smith an immediate superstar and the face of an emerging genre of British literature that has been termed “multicultural fiction”, a term that is usually applied to fiction that shares the general traits of being set in London, featuring non-white characters and is often written by non-white authors. Smith’s talent was discovered during her time at Cambridge and her youth, beauty, mixed- race, working-class background, prestigious education and rumours of a £250,000 advance based on 80 pages of her first novel, coalesced to ensure her debut was one of the most anticipated releases of the new millennium. Over the ensuing decades, her literary work has come to define and re-define both British literature, and, in the…

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5818 words

Citation: Edwards, Shantel, Jonathan P. A. Sell. "Zadie Smith". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 September 2017; last revised 28 September 2023. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5065, accessed 20 April 2025.]

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