About the artist

Dawnell Smith does communications work for a public interest law firm and commits nights and weekends to trying to keep a local bookstore café alive. She has worked as a news and arts reporter and continues to freelance. She lives in Anchorage, where she makes poems, essays and stories as family, community, dogs and workload allow.

2015 Fellowship Award

Smith will write a collaborative memoir that examines the impact of sexual abuse on survivors and the people who love them.