Poet and a novelist Willie Smith started writing when he was nine. His first love was science, but when he had the opportunity to enter a grade school writing contest, Smith wrote his first short story. From that point forward, Smith was hooked.

In this podcast, you’ll hear Smith talk about his beginnings in writing with program curator Matt Briggs and excerpts from his live performance at Jack Straw Productions.

Music by Christian Asplund, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.