Craig Smith
Craig Smith is a poet and novelist from Huddersfield. His writing has appeared on iambapoet and the Mechanics’ Institute Review, as well as in The North, The Blizzard, and The Interpreters’ House. Craig has three books to his name: two poetry collections, L.O.V.E. Love (Smith/Doorstop) and A Quick Word With A Rock And Roll Late Starter, (Rue Bella); and a novel, Super-8 (Boyd Johnson). He is currently working toward an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck University.
Q: If you could travel back in time, which of the great writers would you like to meet and why?
A: Kurt Vonnegut. I love his humanity, his anger, his sense of fun, his imagination. He was one of the first novelists to warn us that human activity in the form or emissions would poison the planet and make our lives on Earth unsustainable.
Q: What is the first book you remember reading or having read to you as a child?
A: I’m sure there was some Farmer Dan stuff in my infant years and Hardy Boys pre-teen, but the first book I read of my own volition was A Goalkeeper’s Revenge and Other Stories, by Bill Naughton, (more famous for writing Alfie). Evocative, beautiful, and tough.
Q: Is there a book that you keep going back to, and if so, how many times have you read it?
A: I’ve read Ella Minnow Pea (Mark Dunn) about 10 times. One of the great dystopian novels.
Q: What is the least interesting part of writing for you?
A: Telling other people about what I’ve written. (Though once I’ve started, I can’t shut up!)
Q: Who is your personal inspiration?
A: There are currently a lot of journalists who are campaign for social justice, climate justice, democracy whose writing touches me. A special shout-out to Carole Cadwalladr, whose work proved the link between the far-right and election fraud.
Twitter