SMITH, LEE

born Nov. 1, 1944, Grundy, Va., U.S. American author of fiction about her native southeastern United States. Smith was educated at Hollins College, Roanoke, Va. (B.A., 1967), and the Sorbonne in Paris; she taught at the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University. Her first novel, The Last Day the Dogbushes Bloomed (1968), was written while she was in college. Her stories are set in the contemporary South and, eschewing the gothic and grotesque, are filled with the details of everyday life. Her widely admired fourth novel, Black Mountain Breakdown, and her short-story collection Cakewalk were both published in 1980. Critics noted her powerful characterizations of rural Southerners in the novel Oral History (1983), which presents a century of fictional family history. Her later books include Family Linens (1985), Fair and Tender Ladies (1988), Me and My Baby View the Eclipse (1990), The Devil's Dream (1992), Saving Grace (1995), and News of the Spirit (1997).