Maggie Smith

WINNER, 2022 NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE JUROR'S GRAND PRIZE

WINNER, BEST DEBUT FICTION 2022 AMERICAN WRITING AWARDS

FIRST PLACE, WOMEN'S FICTION, 2022 PENCRAFT BOOKS AWARDS

2022 GREAT GROUP READS, WOMAN'S NATIONAL BOOK ASSOCIATION

The Devil Wears Prada meets All the President's Men

Megan Barnes' life is in free fall. After losing both

...

"Life, like a poem, is a series of choices." In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman's personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist...

At bedtime, when lights go outsometimes thoughts stay on. Scary things and worries flutter and flap around. It's so hard to sleep! But a little imagination (and a lot of love) can create a cozy nest for happy thoughts-and sweet dreams for little ones.

When poet Smith started writing daily Twitter posts in the wake of her divorce, they unexpectedly caught fire. Here she writes about new beginnings as opportunities for transformation. Like kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with gold, she celebrates the beauty and strength on the other side of loss. This is a book for anyone who has gone through a difficult time and is wondering: What comes next? -- adapted from Goodreads info

"Drawing from her twenty years of teaching experience and her bestselling Substack newsletter, For Dear Life, Maggie Smith breaks down creativity into ten essential elements: attention, wonder, vision, play, surprise, vulnerability, restlessness, tenacity, connection, and hope. Each element is explored through short, inspiring, and craft-focused essays, followed by generative writing prompts"-- Provided by publisher.

A little girl, given good tools and seeds, begins to grow a garden that needs water, sun, weeding, and her encouragement.

When his friend Daisy gets sick, Peter sends her more gifts each day of the week until she feels better.

A child describes how Desser the cat had always been part of the family and how much he was loved even after he died.

A child looks back on a day at the beach and drifts off to sleep, one body part at a time.

A raccoon and his friends go to great lengths to make sure they will always have a library from which to borrow books.