As the author of five novels, two essay collections and two short story collections, Zadie Smith is one of the leading voices in literature today. Since her 1999 debut novel, White Teeth, Smith continues to stake her claim in the literary world, exploring class, race and gender through her often satirical and politically charged characters. Students in this class will be introduced to a mix of Smith's fictional work and her personal essays, which draw from both her life growing up in London as the daughter of a Jamaican mother and British father, as well as from her career as an academic in New York with an affinity for popular, political and contemporary culture. Assignments for this class could include analytical and craft essays, creative responses to Smith's work, or personal essays that explore (as Smith does) the personal dimensions of global trends.