Emily Louise Smith

Emily Louise Smith directs The Publishing Laboratory and coordinates the department's post-baccalaureate and undergraduate publishing certificate tracks. She is the publisher of Lookout Books, which she cofounded in 2009, and Ecotone magazine.

Under her leadership, Lookout titles have won or been named finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the National Book Award, the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, among many others. Her honors include an Innovation in Teaching Award, a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prize, and an Arts Council of Wilmington Artist Grant, as well as fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Hambidge, and the Hub City Writers Project.

Her writing appears or is forthcoming in Best New Poets, Boulevard, Gravy, the Southern Review, Notes to New Mothers (W. W. Norton), and Literary Publishing in the Twenty-First Century (Milkweed), among other publications.

Education

MFA in Poetry, University of North Carolina Wilmington
BA in English, Davidson College

Specialization in Teaching

Over two decades as an educator and publisher, Smith has helped hundreds of writers conceptualize their book projects and build platforms around their work. She led the design of UNCW’s post-baccalaureate and undergraduate publishing certificates and currently coordinates both tracks. Her classes, including the in-house apprenticeship that powers Lookout Books, demystify publishing processes and afford students opportunities to engage in decision-making as they examine and reimagine the field. Over her career, she has developed and taught many courses, including:

CRW 520: Publishing Process
CRW 523: Bookbuilding
CRW 525: Book Marketing and Publicity
CRW 525: Writing for Grants and Fellowships
CRW 540: Writers’ Week Symposium
CRW 560: Lookout Books Publishing Practicum
CRW 591: Building an Anthology
CRW 460: Book Publishing Practicum
CRW 320: A Study of the Image in Poetry
CRW 321: Introduction to Book Publishing
CRW 323: Bookbuilding
CRW 201: Introduction to Creative Writing

Research Interests

History and Practice of Independent Publishing, Book Design, Book Arts, Book Marketing & Publicity, Poetry of Place, Researched Memoir, Grant Writing

Professional Service

Smith is a frequent speaker at national conferences, including presentations and panels for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, the Community of Literary Magazines and Small Presses, the Independent Publishers Caucus, the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, Bread Loaf–Orion, and Cucalorus Connect, among others.

For three years, she directed Hub City’s Writing in Place Conference and has twice directed UNCW’s annual Writers’ Week, which features authors and publishing professionals in readings, workshops, and panel discussions designed to engage students and the wider Wilmington community.

Honors & Awards

WRITING
YWCA Woman of Achievement in the Arts
Arts Council of Wilmington Artist Grantee
Hambidge NEA New Artist Grantee
Hub City Writers’ Project Artist-in-Residence
Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prize
Robert H. Byington Fellow

TEACHING
Women to Watch Award nominee in education, WILMA Leadership
Innovation in Teaching Award
Lecturer of the Year Award

PUBLISHING (selected honors for Lookout titles)
National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction
PEN/Malamud Award
Bard Fiction Prize
Paterson Fiction Prize
Nonfiction Discovery Prize
Georgia Author of the Year Award, Specialty Book
National Book Award in Fiction, finalist
The Story Prize, finalist
Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction, finalist
Foreword INDIE: 1 winner and 3 finalists
Independent Publisher Book Award: 3 medalists
PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award, finalist
Young Lions Fiction Award, finalist
Shirley Jackson Award, nominee