Madison Smartt Bell

About the Author

Madison Smartt Bell was born and raised in Tennessee; he studied at Princeton University and Hollins College. He has taught in a variety of capacities, including the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars, the University of Southern Maine, Goucher College, and as a show more Fellow at the MacDowell Colony. Much of his writing, which reflects a concern with race relations, has been critically acclaimed. Bell was awarded the 1989 Lillian Smith Award for Soldier's Joy. His 1996 historical novel All Soul's Rising was nominated for both the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. All Soul's Rising, which depicts the slave uprising in Haiti in the late eighteenth century, also led to his selection to the Granta's list of Best Young American Novelists. His books include The Washington Square Ensemble (1983), Waiting for the End of the World (1985), Straight Cut (1986), The Year of Silence (1987), Zero dB (1987), Soldier's Joy (1989), Barking Man (1990), Doctor Sleep (1991), Save Me, Joe Lewis (1993), and All Soul's Rising (1996). His short stories have been frequently anthologized, including selection for the annual Best American Short Stories for 1984, 1987, 1989, and 1990. Bell teaches at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. (Bowker Author Biography) Madison Smartt Bell is the author of eleven previous works of fiction, including All Souls' Rising, which was a National Book Award finalist; Save Me, Joe Louis; Dr. Sleep; Soldier's Joy; and Ten Indians. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Madison Bell, Madison S. Bell, Madison Smart Bell, Smart Bell Madison, Madison Smartt Bell, Madison Smartt Bell

Image credit: Baltimore Sun

Series

Haiti Trilogy

Works by Madison Smartt Bell

Popular Recent

All Souls' Rising (1995) — Author — 576 copies

Straight Cut (1986) — Author — 267 copies

Master of the Crossroads (2000) — Author — 258 copies

Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a New Science in an Age of Revolution (2005) 194 copies

Narrative Design: A Writer's Guide to Structure (1997) — Author — 184 copies

Devil's Dream (2009) — Author — 137 copies

The Stone That the Builder Refused (2004) 137 copies

Doctor Sleep (1991) — Author — 112 copies

Toussaint Louverture: A Biography (2007) 112 copies

Waiting for the End of the World (1985) — Author — 108 copies

The Year of Silence (1987) — Author — 103 copies

Ten Indians (1996) — Author — 99 copies

Barking Man (1990) — Author — 83 copies

Zero Db and Other Stories (1987) — Author — 83 copies

Save Me, Joe Louis (1993) — Author — 73 copies

The Washington Square Ensemble (1983) — Author — 71 copies

Soldier's Joy (1989) — Author — 69 copies

Charm City: A Walk Through Baltimore (2007) — Author — 63 copies

Anything Goes: A novel (2002) — Author — 53 copies

The Color of Night (2011) 48 copies

New Stories from the South 2009: The Year's Best (2009) — Editor & Introduction — 39 copies

Behind the Moon (2017) 25 copies

Child of Light: A Biography od Robert Stone (2020) — Author — 25 copies

Zig Zag Wanderer (2013) 8 copies

Ploughshares Winter 1999-00 : Stories and Poems (1999) — Editor — 7 copies

George Garrett: An Interview (Contemporaries No 3) (1990) 1 copy

Customs of the Country (in The Best American Short Stories 1989 - RAVENEL) 1 copy

Finding Natasha (in The Best American Short Stories 1990 - RAVENEL) 1 copy

Prey (an Atlantic Fiction for Kindle Short Story) (2010) 1 copy

The Eye You See With: Selected Nonfiction (2020) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Black Jacobins (1938) — Afterword, some editions — 1,336 copies

The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: Fifty North American American Stories Since 1970 (1999) — Contributor — 495 copies

For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most (1999) — Contributor — 447 copies

Granta 54: Best of Young American Novelists (1996) — Contributor — 233 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1990 (1990) — Contributor — 216 copies

The Best American Travel Writing 2005 (2005) — Contributor — 212 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1989 (1989) — Contributor — 187 copies

Haiti Noir (2011) — Contributor — 132 copies

Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America's Past (and Each Other) (2001) — Contributor — 131 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1987 (1987) — Contributor — 127 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1984 (1984) — Contributor — 100 copies

The Dark End of the Street: New Stories of Sex and Crime by Today's Top Authors (2010) — Contributor — 92 copies

Genesis as It Is Written: Contemporary Writers on Our First Stories (1996) — Contributor — 59 copies

Best of the South: From Ten Years of New Stories from the South (1996) — Contributor — 49 copies

New Stories from the South 2001: The Year's Best (2001) — Contributor — 47 copies

Southern Dogs and Their People (2000) — Contributor — 38 copies

A Wake for the Living (Southern Classics Series) (1975) — Preface, some editions — 32 copies

Rediscoveries II: Important Writers Select Their Favorite Works of Neglected Fiction (1988) — Contributor — 29 copies

It's Only Rock and Roll: An Anthology of Rock and Roll Short Stories (1998) — Contributor — 21 copies

The Eye You See With: Selected Nonfiction (2020) — Editor — 20 copies

The Mammoth Book of Legal Thrillers (2001) — Contributor — 19 copies

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1989 (1989) — Contributor — 12 copies

New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 1986 (1986) — Contributor — 12 copies

Antaeus No. 73/74, Spring 1994 - Who’s Writing This: Notations on the Authorial I {magazine} (1994) — Contributor — 5 copies

Oxford American: The Southern Magazine of Good Writing. No. 57 (2007): Best of the South (2007) — Contributor — 1 copy

Mitä ukkonen todella sanoi (2001) 1 copy

Tagged

18th century (34) 20th century (34) American (49) American literature (62) anthology (216) biography (75) books (53) books about books (70) Caribbean (82) chemistry (29) colonialism (38) essays (69) fiction (607) first edition (46) French Revolution (34) Granta (30) Haiti (226) Haitian Revolution (40) Hard Case Crime (40) historical (36) historical fiction (99) history (250) literature (72) mystery (35) non-fiction (186) novel (93) own (34) race (44) read (48) revolution (66) science (37) short stories (336) signed (29) slavery (111) stories (44) to-read (286) Toussaint Louverture (47) travel (63) unread (40) writing (59)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate: 1957-08-01
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Places of residence: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
New York, New York, USA
London, England, UK
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Education: Princeton University
Hollins University
Relationships: Spires, Elizabeth (wife)
Organizations: Fellowship of Southern Writers
Awards and honors: Andrew James Purdy fiction award
Ward Mathis Prize
Francis Leymoyne Page award
Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction (1995)
John Dos Passos Prize (2001)
Granta's Best Of Young American Novelists (1996)

Members

Reviews

Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a New… by Madison Smartt Bell

Really disjointed and jarringly edited in some places. Went from "this happened, then this happened, then this happened" type of history, and would then make a sudden jump to another event without any real transition. Don't know if this was the writer or the editor, but it doesn't really matter. I need to look elsewhere for a biography of Lavoisier.

(Also, one of my pet peeves: there were sections/poems in the original French, with no translation into English.)

Flagged

rumbledethumps | 7 other reviews | Mar 23, 2021 |

Child of Light: A Biography of Robert Stone by Madison Smartt Bell

Excellent book for fans of Madison Smartt Bell. Goes into his life from the beginning. The people he knew. How the things he experienced are reflected in his work.

Flagged

nx74defiant | Jun 25, 2020 |

Behind the Moon by Madison Smartt Bell

An early personal favorite, Bell is one of those writers who defies categorization and at times even description, his work somehow managing to track the borderland between experimental mind games and the solid characterization and description of mainstream literary fiction. A synthesis of mind and heart told in a language that matches the subtle virtuosity we’ve come to associate with his work, Bell’s thirteenth novel, Behind the Moon, does nothing to diminish his legacy.

href="http://thenervousbreakdown.com/kbaumeister/2017/08/the-nervous-breakdowns-review-microbrew-volume-8/#more-127915" rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://thenervousbreakdown.com/kbaumeister/2017/08/the-nervous-breakdowns-review...… (more)

Flagged

kurtbaumeister | Oct 25, 2017 |

Zig Zag by Madison Bell Smartt

A perfectly fitted concept and design. The reversal of stories from here and stories from there meeting in the center and flipping over to the other side was ingenious and clever. The stories themselves are nicely fitted out vehicles for the trips on which they transport you.

Flagged

andersonden | 1 other review | Nov 26, 2016 |

See More Reviews