Michelle R. Smith is a writer, poet, educator, cultural facilitator, native Clevelander, and recipient of a 2026 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for poetry. She is the Programming Director for Literary Cleveland, 2025-2026 Poet Laureate for Cleveland Heights & University Heights, and author of the poetry collections Ariel in Black (2015) and The Vagina Analogues (2020).
Michelle R. Smith is a writer, poet, educator, cultural facilitator, native Clevelander, and recipient of a 2026 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for poetry. She is the Programming Director for Literary Cleveland, 2025-2026 Poet Laureate for Cleveland Heights & University Heights, and author of the poetry collections Ariel in Black (2015) and The Vagina Analogues (2020). Her poetry microzine, black, live matters: a collection of katauta for an activist husband (rinky dink press), was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2024. She has been published in The Normal School, The Gasconade Review, New Note Poetry, Merge Magazine, io Literary Magazine, and other pages. She has been a featured reader, instructor, performer, and panelist at Case Western Reserve University’s Writers House, BorderLight Theatre Festival, The Cleveland Museum of Arts, The Cuyahoga County Public Library, The East Cleveland Public Library, Heights Arts, Heights Libraries, Imposters Theater, The Lakewood Public Library, Loganberry Books, Maelstrom Collaborative Arts, Mac's Backs-Books on Coventry, The Maltz Museum, and Story Club CLE. She is also the creator, co-producer, director, and host of BLAX MUSEUM, an annual performance showcase for Northeast Ohio artists open to all forms and dedicated to honoring notable black figures in American history and culture.
