Dominic Smith (author)

Dominic Smith is an Australian-American novelist.

Smith at the 2023 Texas Book Festival

Early life and education

Smith was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1971. He grew up in the Blue Mountains and in Sydney. His father was an American corporate manager, his Australian mother worked as a secretary. Smith, one of four children, was eight years old when his parents separated. The following year, the family home burned down and Smith's mother suffered a stroke and became disabled; the family struggled to make ends meet.^[1] Australian politician Tamara Smith is his sister.^[1]

Smith graduated from college in 1994 at age 23 with a B.A. in anthropology.^[1] He completed an MFA in creative writing on a Michener Fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin in 2003.^[2]

He lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife, an instructional coach and early-childhood specialist. He has two daughters.^[1] Smith has taught in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers.^[3]

Publications

Smith's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Texas Monthly and The Australian.^[4][5][6][7] His novel The Last Painting of Sara de Vos was a New York Times bestseller.^[8]

Novels

• Return to Valetto: A Novel (2023 Farrar, Straus, Giroux in USA; Allen & Unwin in Australia)
• The Electric Hotel: A Novel (Farrar, Straus, Giroux/Sarah Crichton Books, June 2019)
• The Last Painting of Sara de Vos (2016, Farrar, Straus, Giroux/Sarah Crichton Books in USA; Allen & Unwin in Australia)^{[1][9][10][11]}
• Bright and Distant Shores (Atria, 2011)^[12]
• The Beautiful Miscellaneous (Atria, 2007)
• The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre (Atria, 2006)

Awards and Fellowships

• National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship 2018^[13]
• Australia Council for the Arts New Works Grant^[14]
• Dobie Paisano Fellowship^[15]