Suzi Q. Smith

Suzi Q. Smith is an award-winning artist, activist, and educator who lives in Denver, Colorado. She is the author of two full-length poetry collections, A Gospel of Bones from Alternating Current Press, and Poems for the End of the World from Finishing Line Press.

Her poems have appeared in Union Station Magazine, Suspect Press, La Palabra, Muzzle Magazine, Malpais Review, The Pedestal, The Los Angeles Journal, Denver Syntax, Word is Bond, The Peralta Press, and in the anthologies Diverse-City, His Rib: Anthology of Women, and In Our Own Words, and her chapbook collection of poems, Thirteen Descansos, is available from Penmanship Books.

Suzi co-wrote the dramatic productions How I Got Over: Journeys in Verse, produced by Off Center at the Denver Center for Performing Arts in 2016, and Where We Are From: Freedom is a Constant Struggle, produced by 5280 Arts Coop in 2018.

As a community organizer, Suzi began her career working for a civil rights organization in Denver. She has remained actively involved in serving her community in a number of capacities for over 20 years. Suzi was the first Slammaster of Denver’s Slam Nuba, and she spent 12 years in the poetry slam arena as a coach, organizer, and performer, earning her way to dozens of local, regional, national, and international finals and championships. In addition, she has worked extensively with youth, serving as a Teaching Artist with Youth On Record, and as a coach of Denver Minor Disturbance Youth Poetry Slam, resulting in two international championships. She has served a number of community organizations locally in Denver, including serving as the co-Chair of the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs until 2020.

Currently, Suzi Q. is at work on her next collection while she continues to teach Creative Writing, all while cultivating a beautiful life.