Lee Smith

I was born in the small coal-mining town of Grundy, Virginia, where I began writing stories at the age of nine and selling them for a nickel apiece. Since then, I have written 14 novels including Fair and Tender Ladies, as well as four collections of short stories. The Last Girls was a New York Times bestseller as well as a co-winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. I am a retired professor of English at North Carolina State University. My husband--journalist Hal Crowther--and I enjoy spending time in North Carolina and Maine.