Michael Farris Smith

Michael Farris Smith is the author of Desperation Road (forthcoming, 2017), Rivers, and The Hands of Strangers. Rivers was named in Best Books of the Year by Book Riot, Esquire, Hudson Booksellers, and numerous other regional and national outlets. He is the recipient of the Mississippi Author Award for Fiction, Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Arts Fellowship, Transatlantic Review Award for Fiction, and the Alabama Arts Council Fellowship Award for Literature. His short fiction is upcoming in the anthology Mississippi Noir and has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His essays have appeared in the New York Times, Catfish Alley, Deep South Mag, and more. He lives in Columbus, Mississippi, with his wife and daughters.

Ten Things I Can’t Do Without

1. My back porch
2. Grit Lit
3. Nail gun
4. Jeans
5. Boots
6. Maker’s Mark
7. My grill
8. Good music
9. Back roads
10. My girls