I write. I teach. I resist & explore. I don't have many certainties. In fact, even those certainties ain't really certainties—more like a small number of ever-evolving considerations.

I believe we all stumble and soar as we expand into larger versions of ourselves. I believe that, on that journey, we experience and share much beauty and injury. I believe everyone is fragile (even the ones who made you fragile). I believe in reflection and growth. I believe that everyone who wants to be is redeemable. I believe that some things aren't meant to be redeemed. Some things are vital to the essence of your unique imprint.

I facilitate workshops and write fiction to examine and explore the grace and grit of these beliefs. Thanks for hanging out with me here. I sincerely hope something you read supports your day. 

. . . . .

TÉ V. SMITH is a Nigerian-American educator, writer, and the founder of the Amù Primary schools in Nigeria and Kenya. Té also designed an SEL-based history curriculum, Colors of A Nation, to probe the dominant & counter-narratives of American history. His short fiction is published in the Dillydoun Review, Blavity, Griffel, Tin House, and other venues. Té was A Rhode Island Writers Colony Fellow, a Disney Plus Reimagine Tomorrow Writer in Residence, a Lambda Literary Fellow, and a Tunnel Vision Poetry Prize Awardee. He is most passionate about telling and supporting the stories of underrepresented communities. He lectures and teaches Creative Writing, Education Reform, Inner-Faith, and Healthy Masculinity workshops throughout the U.S. and abroad. Té lives in New Orleans, where he most likely can’t be found because he’s somewhere writing & revising a story or nestled between the stacks.

—

“Roads are bumpy, but life ain’t that damned hard. Find something and someone to hold, then spend the rest of your time on this rock tending to your curiosities.”

—my Grandad