Madison Smartt Bell
Madison Smartt Bell
Portrait d'un Ecrivain
by
Madison Smartt Bell is the author of thirteen novels, including The Washington Square Ensemble (1983), Waiting for the End of the World (1985), Straight Cut (1986), The Year of Silence (1987), Doctor Sleep (1991), Save Me, Joe Louis (1993), Ten Indians (1997) and Soldier's Joy, which received the Lillian Smith Award in 1989. Bell has also published two collections of short stories: Zero db (1987) and Barking Man (1990). In 2002, the novel Doctor Sleep was adapted as a film, Close Your Eyes, starring Goran Visnjic, Paddy Considine, and Shirley Henderson. Forty Words For Fear, an album of songs co-written by Bell and Wyn Cooper and inspired by the novel Anything Goes,was released by Gaff Music in 2003; other performers include Don Dixon, Jim Brock, Mitch Easter and Chris Frank.
Bell's eighth novel, All Soul's Rising, was
a finalist for the 1995 National Book Award and the 1996 PEN/Faulkner Award and winner of
the 1996 Anisfield-Wolf award for the best book of the year dealing with matters of race.
All
Souls Rising, along with the second and third novels of his Haitian Revolutionary trilogy,
Master
of the Crossroads and The
Stone That The Builder Refused, is available in a uniform edition from
Vintage Contemporaries. Toussaint
Louverture A Biography was published by Pantheon in 2007.
Devil's Dream ,a novel based
on the career of Confederate Cavalry General Nathan Bedford Forrest, was
published by Pantheon in 2009. Bell's latest novel,
The Color of Night, appeared from Vintage Contemporaries in
April 2011.
Born and raised in Tennessee, he has lived in New York and in London and now lives in
Baltimore, Maryland. A graduate of Princeton University (A.B 1979) and Hollins College
(M.A. 1981), he has taught in various creative writing programs, including theIowa
Writers' Workshop and the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars. Since 1984 he has
taught in the Goucher College Creative Program,
where he is currently Professor of English, along with his wife, the poet Elizabeth
Spires. Bell served as Director of the Kratz Center for Creative Writing at Goucher College from 1999 to 2008. In 2008 he received the
Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
coming soon....
Haiti: Aftershocks of History, Laurent Dubois reviewed by Madison Smartt Bell
Angela Zumpe Williamsburg Walk
Toussaint Louverture: A Biography
Small Blue Thing (short
story) 
Anything Goes
(novel)
Kat Rèv Nan Haiti
a fine press book from
Narrative
Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form
Paintings
from the North of Haiti
Kochon Kreyol:
a story in pictures
Waiting for the End of the World
The Washington Square Ensemble (novel) Viking Press, 1983
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1984
Waiting For The End Of The World (novel) Ticknor & Fields, 1985
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1986
Straight Cut (novel) Ticknor & Fields, 1986
Penguin mass-market paperback, 1987
Leisure/Hardcase paperback, 2006
Zero db (short fiction) Ticknor & Fields, 1987
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1988
The Year Of Silence (novel) Ticknor & Fields, 1987
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1989
Soldier's Joy (novel) Ticknor & Fields, 1989
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1990
Barking Man (short fiction) Ticknor & Fields, 1990
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1991
Doctor Sleep (novel) Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich, 1991
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1992
Grove Press (paperback, 2003)
Save Me, Joe Louis (novel) Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1994
All Souls' Rising (novel) Pantheon Books, 1995
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1996
Vintage Books, 2004
Ten Indians (novel) Pantheon, 1996
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 1997
Narrative Design: A Writer's Guide to Structure (textbook), W.W. Norton, 1997.
Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form (trade paperback edition) Norton, 2000
Master of the Crossroads (novel), Pantheon, 2000
Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series, 2001
Vintage Books, 2004
Anything Goes (novel), Pantheon Books, 2002
The Stone that the Builder Refused (novel) Pantheon Books 2004
Vintage Books 2006 (paperback edition)
Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a New Science in an Age of Revolution (biography) (New York: Norton /Atlas Books, 2005.
Toussaint Louverture: A Biography ,Pantheon Books, 2007
Vintage books 2008 (paperback edition)
Charm City: A Walk through Baltimore (nonfiction) Crown, 2007
Devil’s Dream (novel) forthcoming from Pantheon, November 2009
anthology publications :
Intro 9: Close to Home: Triptych," (Hendel & Reinke, 1978)
Best American Short Stories 1984: "The Naked Lady," (Houghton Mifflin, 1984)
The Best of Intro: "Triptych," (Associated Writing Programs, 1985)
New Stories from the South: "Triptych 2," (Algonquin Books, 1986)
The Editors' Choice (v. 3): "Zero db," (Bantam Books, 1986)
Homewords: "The Day I Shot My Dog," (University of Tennessee Press, 1986)
The New Writers of the South: "Monkey Park," (University of Georgia Press, 1987)
Oral Interpretation: "The Naked Lady," (Houghton Mifflin, 1987)
Best American Short Stories 1987: "The Lie Detector," (Houghton Mifflin, 1987)
Louder Than Words: "Finding Natasha," (Random House, 1989)
Best American Short Stories 1989: "Customs of The Country" (Houghton Mifflin, 1989)
New Stories from the South: "Customs of the Country," (Algonquin Books, 1989)
Amerika Porteller: "Customs of the Country," (1990? an anthology of 30 U.S. short stories published in Norway -- Den Norske Bokklubben)
Voices In Fiction and Non Fiction: "Witness," (with notes) (The Long Ridge Writers Group, Danbury CT, 1990)
Words on the Page, the World in Your Hands "Getting Involved," (adapted from "I Love New York," Eds. Lipkin & Solotaroff, Harper & Row, 1990, v. 2)
Best American Short Stories: 1990: "Finding Natasha" (Houghton Mifflin 1990)
The Literary Dog: Great Contemporary Dog Stories: "Black and Tan" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990)
Literary Outtakes: chapter from Soldier's Joy, Ed. Larry Dark, Fawcett 1990
The Sound of Writing: "Mister Potatohead in Love," (Doubleday/Anchor 1991)
A Pocket Full of Prose: "Dragon's Seed," (Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1991)
The Wedding Cake In The Middle Of The Road: "Pawnshop," (Norton, 1992)
Elvis In Oz: "At Sea," University of Virginia Press, 1992
Das Grosse Lesebuch Der Wilden Manner: "Die Nachte Lady" (translation of The Naked Lady) Goldmann Verlag (Germany), 1992
That's What I Like About The South: "Hammerhead," (Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1993)
Inside, Outside '93: "Today Is A Good Day To Die (Snake Nation Press, 1992)
Legal Fictions: "Witness" (Overlook Press, 1992)
Sommer, Sonne, Sand und mehr...: "I Love New York" German translation (Goldmann Verlag, 1994)
Sudden Fiction: "The Naked Lady," (Norton, 1996)
Genesis: As It Is Written: "The Days of Creation" (commentary) (Harper-Collins, 1996
A Goyen Companion: "A Memory of William Goyen" (University of Texas Press, 1997)
Outside the Law: "True Morality," (Beacon Press, 1997)
Truyen ngan My duong Dai: "Tap Tuc Mot Vung Dat" (translation of "Customs of the Country") Vietnamese edition ed. by Wayne Karlin, Nha Xuat ban Van hoc, 1997
Joyful Noise: The New Testament Revisited: "A Love Supreme" (commentary) (Little Brown, 1997, eds. Rick Moody and Darcey Steinke)
It's Only Rock and Roll: "Never Mind" (Boston: Godine, 1998)
The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction, eds. Richard Bausch and R.V. Cassill: "Witness" (New York: Norton, 2000)
The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: "Customs of the Country" eds. Lex Williford and Michael Martone (New York: Scribner, 1999)
Literary Nashville, ed. Patrick Allen (Hill Street Press, 2000)
Three Minutes or Less: Life Lessons from America's Greatest Writers :"Confession" (New York: Bloomsbury, 2000)
The Cry of an Occasion: Fiction from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, ed. Richard Bausch: "The Naked Lady" (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001)
Weavings 2000: The Maryland Millenial Anthology, ed. Michael S. Glaser: "Dragon's Seed" (St. Mary's City: Forest Woods Media, 2000) Contemporary Authors volume 183: "Our Dogs" (autobiographical essay), (Detroit: Gale Group, 2000)[1]
New Stories from the South: 2001-the Year's Best, ed. Shannon Ravenel: "Two Lives" (short story), (Chapel: Hill:Algonquin Books, 2001)
Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America's Past, ed. Mark Carnes: "Engaging the Past" (essay), (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001)
The Greenwich Village Reader, ed. June Skinner Sawyers: excerpt from The Washington Square Ensemble (New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001)
Mitä Ukkenon Todella Sanoi , ed. Artur Virtanen (Osakeyhtiö: Werner Söderström, 2001) "Pakko löytää Natasha" (translation of short story "Finding Natasha")
La Generación encontrada: Cuentos estadounidenses contemporános, ed. Beatriz Escalante and James Ramey (Villa Quietud, Mexico: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, 2002)—“La mujer desnuda” Spanish translation of short story “The Naked Lady”
Gestschichten für Männer (Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2003)—“Die nackte Lady” German translation of short story “The Naked Lady”
The Best American Travel Writing, 2005, ed. Jamaica Kincaid (New York: Houghton Mifflin 2005) “Mine of Stones.”
Twice Told Children’s Tales: The Influence of Childhood Reading on Writers for Adults, ed. Betty Greenaway: (New York: Routledge 2005) “A Child’s Eye Reading of Mark Twain.”
Literature and Ourselves: a Thematic Introduction for Readers and Writers, fifth edition, eds. Henderson, Day & Waller (New York: Pearson Longman, 2006) “Customs of the Country”
The Best Dog Stories, ed. Paul D. Staudohar (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2007) “Black and Tan”
High 5ive: An Anthology of Fiction from Ten Years of Five Points, ed. Megan Sexton (New York: Carroll & Graf 2006) “Parallel Lines”
The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books e. Peder Zane (New York: Norton 2007) list Haïti par Monts et par Mots: Un Atlas Littéraire (Port-au-Prince: Éditions Étonnants Voyageurs, 2009) “Morne Rouge”
periodical publications:
Antaeus: "Finding Natasha," Spring 1989
Atlantic: "Black and Tan," February 1990
Boulevard: "Holding Together," Fall 1988
"Dragon's Seed," Fall 1990?
Cosmopolitan (British edition): "Monkey Park," November 1987
Harper's: "The Naked Lady," October 1984
"Zero db," August 1985
"Customs of the Country," February 1988
"Witness," January 1990
"Small Blue Thing" June 2000
“The Mine of Stones” January 2004
Playboy “The Weight of the Moon,” August 2005
Esquire “The Napkin” (short story) February 2007 esquire.com/napkinproject
Hudson Review: "Monkey Park," Vol. 38 #1, Spring 1985
"The Moon Will Be Bleeding," Vol. 41 #4, Winter 1989
Literary Review (London): "Zero db," October 1985
North American Review: "World Without End," September 1987
The Reading Room:
Writing of the Moment: "Master of the Crossroads" (novel excerpt) #1 (2000)
Switch: "Monkey Park," (Japanese translation), 1987
"Zero db," (Japanese translation), 1988
Crescent Review "The Naked Lady," (Vol. 1 No. 1, 1983)
"Triptych 2," (Vol. 2, No. 2, Fall 1984)
"The Lie Detector," (Vol 4., No. 2, Fall 1986)
"Beggarman, Thief," (Vol 5, No. 1, 1987)
Columbia "Irene," (no. 7, 1982)
"The Year of Silence," (no. 12, 1987)
Witness "The Forgotten Bridge," (vol. 1, no. 1, Spring 1987)
Stories "Feast of the Assumption," (No. 18, 1987)
Greensboro Review "I've Got a Secret," (No. 42, Summer 1987)
Lowlands Review "The Structure and Meaning of DFS," (no. 8, 1979)
Poughkeepsie Review "The Girl in the Black Raincoat," (Summer 1987)
Green Mountains Review "I Love New York" (no. 13, Spring 1984)
Tennessee Illustrated "Last Go-Round," (Vol. 2, No. 1, January/ February 1989)
America Illustrated "Black and Tan," (1990?)
The Russian language magazine
of the U.S. Information Agency
Story "Cash Machine," spring, 1991
Vox "Pawnshop," Vol I, No. 1, spring 1991
Northwest Review "Barking Man," volume 28, #1
Gentlemen's Quarterly "Summertime," August 1992
Witness "The Life of Georgie," Vol. VI # 1 1992
Ploughshares "The Rights Of Man," Vol. 19 # 4, Winter 1993-94
Boulevard "A Consummation," Vol. 9 # 1&2, Spring 1994
Witness "Blood Harvest," Vol. VIII #1, 1994
Southern Review "The Dead," Vol. 30, #2, Spring 1994
Image "I am Not I," #10, Summer 1995
Flyway "A Barbecue," Vol. 1-1 Spring 1995
Agni Review "In The Camps," #42, Fall 1995
Columbia "Confession," #21, 1993
North American Review "Hill Country," Vol 279, #4, July/August 1995
Antaeus "Three Lovers," #73/74 Spring 1994
Boulevard "Happy Families Are All Alike" (filmscript-- collaboration with Andrew Moore) # 31 & 32, Spring 1996
New Millenium "Mistress And Maid" Vol. 1, #1, Spring & Summer 1996
Granta "Waiting For The General" #54, Summer 1996
Image "I Am Not I," #10, 1995
Conjunctions Prologue from The War of Knives," #27, 1996
Gulf Coast "I Ain't Blue", Volume VIII # 2 1996
Chattahoochee Review "Mister Jones" (memoir), Volume XVII #1
Widener Review "Zig Zag Wanderer" Vol 11, 1997
Creative Nonfiction "Sa'm Pèdi" (nonfiction essay) # 9, 1998
Washington Post Book World "Guided By Voices" (nonfiction essay) May 10, 1998
Creative Nonfiction "Action de Grace" (nonfiction essay) 10, 1998
The Oxford American "Leadbelly in Paris" (short story) #27 & 28, Summer 1999
Creative Nonfiction "Soul in a Bottle" (essay) # 14, 2000
Meridian "Two Lives" (short story) # 5, Spring 2000
The Reading Room:
Writing of the Moment "Master of the Crossroads" (novel excerpt) # 1, 2000
Virginia Quarterly Review "Whose God to Follow" (novel excerpt) V. 26 #4, Autumn 2000
The Idaho Review "Bonne Route, Blanc" (novel excerpt) V. 3, 2001
Gulf Coast "Two Fathers" (novel excerpt) V.XIII, #1, Winter 2001
New England Review "Labor" (novel excerpt) V. 21, #4, Fall 2000
Five Points "The Prisoner in the Fort de Joux" (novel excerpt) V. 5, #1, Fall 2000
Washington Post "Top of the World" (short story) Travel section, November 12, 2000
Daedalus: Journal of the
American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, “Petrified Forest" (short story) Summer 2002
Rattapallax “Fall on Me” short (short story) 2004
Playboy “The Weight of the Moon,” (short story) August 2005
Baltimore Magazine, “Baltimore Falls” (short story) September 2005
Illuminations “Vanishing Sky” (short story) Issue 22 August 2006
Esquire “The Napkin” (short story) February 2007 esquire.com/napkinproject
essays and book reviews:
Antaeus: "Literature and Pleasure: Bridging the Gap," #59, September 1987
Chronicles: "An Interview with George Garrett," June 1988; "An Interview with Andrew Lytle," September 1988
Harper's: "Less Is Less: The Dwindling American Short Story," April 1986
Switch: "Less Is Less," (Japanese translation), 1988
Rediscoveries II: "Do, Lord, Remember Me," (Carroll & Graf, 1988)
Columbia: "Throwing Dirt on the Grave of Minimalism," (Panel Discussion, No. 14, 1989)
Chronicles: "Time and the Tide in the Southern Short Story," March 1991
The World and I: "Blood and Guts in the Bookstore" (critical essay) April 1992
Chattahoochee Review: "An Essay Introducing His Work In Rather A Lunatic Fashion," Vol xii # 1, Fall 1991
Manoa: "Book-Reviewing For Better or Worse," Vol 3, #2, Fall 1991
Critical Preface to A Wake For The Living, by Andrew Lytle (J.S. Sanders & Co. 1992)
Critical Essays On Peter Taylor: "The Mastery of Peter Taylor" (G.K. Hall, 1993)
"Where an Author Might Be Standing" (essay on William Vollman), The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Volume 13, no. 2, Summer 1993
"The Short Story Revival (Or Whatever It Was): An Impressionistic History and Diatribe" Mississippi Review, vol 21, Numbers 1 & 2
"A Memory of William Goyen," Mid-American Review, Volume 13, no. 1, 1992
The Craft of Peter Taylor, C. Ralph Stephens and Linda B. Salamon (eds.), "Two Audiences for Emmagene," (Univ of Alabama Press, 1995)
Hudson Review, "Miroir Danjere," Winter 1996, vol xlviii # 4
George, "The 20 Most Fascinating Women in Politics" (profile of Carolyn Chute), September 1996
Esquire, "Virgin Maryland," July 1996
New York Times Magazine, "Bar, None" (LIVES section), March 3, 1996
Preface to The King of Babylon Shall Not Come Against You by George Garrett (Harvest/Harcourt Brace, 1997)
Myth, Legend, Dust: Critical responses to Cormac McCarthy, ed. Rick Wallach: "A Writer's View of Cormac McCarthy" (New York and Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000)
Introduction to God's Country (novel) by Percival Everett (Boston: Beacon Press, 2003)
A Certain Somewhere: Writers on the Places They Remember, ed. Robert Wilson (New York: Random House, 2002): "The Fire This Time" (essay).
Conversations with Mary Gordon, ed. Alma Bennett (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2002) "The Writing Life: Madison Smartt Bell hosts Mary Gordon" (interview)
Los Angeles Times, “A Wave that Washes Over All Haitians” February 12 2004
Twice Told Children’s Tales: The Influence of Childhood Reading on Writers for Adults, ed.
Betty Greenaway: (New York: Routledge 2005) “A Child’s Eye Reading of Mark Twain.”
The Oxford American Issue 53, Winter 2006—“Emerging Southern Writers: John McManus”
The Los Angeles Times March 31 2006 “Back Haiti or Back Off” (op-ed)
I giacobani negri by CLR James “Postfazione alla nuova edizione Italiana” (Rome: Derive Approdi 2006
Multitudes “Kreyol Pale Kreyol Konprann” issue 22 Automne 2005
Journal of Haitian Studies “Toussaint Between Two Worlds” (essay) v. 11 #2, Fall 2005
Bomb “Judith Linhares” (interview) #97 Fall 2006
Polite “Pastisomane” (feuilleton) Spring 2007
Preface to Eimi by E.E. Cummings (New York : Norton 2007)
Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism Discussion of MSB’s Haitian trilogy (#23, 2007)
Oxforrd American, “A Juror’s Notes” (nonfiction) (#57, 2007)
The Chronicle Review (Chronicle of Higher Education) “George Garrett, the Great Encourager” (memoir) June 13, 2008
Book Forum: “Fiction and Politics” (comment) (Vol 15 issue 2, 2008)
Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, “Ba’m Dlo” (nonfiction) # 27 October 2008
Revue de la Société Haïtienne d’Histoire et de Géographie: “Souvenirs sur Gérard Barthélemy” (témoignage) 83e année # 236 Janvier-Juin 2009
Book reviewer for the New York Times Book Review, the Village Voice, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the London Standard, the North American Review, the L.A. Times Book Review, the Boston Globe, Southern Magazine, and others.
Girl With Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace, Washington Post, 1989
Lights Out in the Reptile House by Jim Sheperd, Washington Post 1990
The Other Side by Mary Gordon, New York Times Book Review, 1989
The Pilgrim's Rules of Etiquette by Taghi Modarressi, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1989
The Rainbow Stories by William Vollman, Philadelphia Inquirer 1989
Caverns by O.U. Levon (Ken Kesey et. al.), Village Voice Literary Supplement) February 1990
The Salt Point by Paul Russell, Village Voice 1990
Many Things Have Happened Since He Died by Elizabeth Dewberry Vaughn, Washington Post, 1990
My Life and Doctor Joyce Brothers by Kelly Cherry, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1990
Godchildren by Charles Casey Martin, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1990
The Homestead by Chilton Williamson, Chronicles, May 1990
The Music of Chance by Paul Auster, New York Times Book Review, fall 1990
The Second War by G.C. Hendricks, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 22, 1990
Two Girls, Fat and Thin by Mary Gaitskill, Boston Globe spring 1991
S.F.W by A.M. Wellman, Philadelphia Inquirer, spring 1991
Resuscitation of a Hanged Man by Denis Johnson, Philadelphia Inquirer, spring 1991
If Not Now, Then In Heaven, by Joel Redon, Philadelphia Inquirer, spring 1991
Complete Collected Stories, by V.S. Pritchett, Philadelphia Inquirer, Spring 1991
The Alchymist's Journal by Evan S. Connell, Boston Globe, spring 1991
Sweet Angel Band by R.M. Kinder, New York Times Book Review, 9/27/91
All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, New York Times Book Review, May 17, 1992
A Foreign Woman by Sergei Dovlatov, USA TODAY, August 23, 1991
An Afghanistan Picture Show by William Vollman, USA Today, August 13, 1992
Crystal River by Charlie Smith, Washington Post Book World, September 8, 1991
Fathers And Crows by William Vollman, Chicago Tribune, July 26, 1992
A Good Scent From A Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler, Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1992
The Unquiet Earth by Denise Giardina, Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1992
Mercy by Andrea Dworkin, Chicago Tribune, September 15, 1991
Whores For Gloria by William T. Vollman, Boston Globe, December 29, 1991
Talents and Technicians by John Aldridge, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 19, 1992
The Night Travelers by Elizabeth Spencer, Atlanta Journal Constitution, August 18, 1991
The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Baltimore Sun, September 27, 1992
Pilgrim In The Ruins: A Life Of Walker Percy by Jay Tolson, New York Times Book Review, November 15, 1992
The Collected Stories by William Trevor, USA Today, January 29, 1993
The Oracle at Stoneleigh Court by Peter Taylor, Baltimore Sun, February 14, 1993
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson, USA Today, March 2, 1993
Cry Me A River by T.R. Pearson, Philadelphia Inquirer, January 10, 1993
Too Far From Home by Paul Bowles, Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1993
The Names of The Lost by Liza Wieland, USA Today, March 30, 1993
Notes From Underground by Eric Bogosian, Washington Post March 30, 1993
Sex Crimes, by Alice Vachss, Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1993
Sailor Song by Ken Kesey, Baltimore Sun, August 23, 1992
Bottoms Up, By Jeff Putnam, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 1993
Thirteen Stories and Thirteen Epitaphs, by William Vollmann, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 16, 1993.
Butterfly Stories, by William Vollmann, Chicago Tribune, November 28, 1993.
Poor Things, by Alasdair Gray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 7, 1993.
On Fire by Larry Brown, New York Times Book Review, August 24, 1994
The Children in the Woods by Frederick Busch, Philadelphia Inquirer, February 6, 1994
A Way in the World by V.S. Naipaul, Chicago Tribune, May 29, 1994
Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks, Spin, June 1995
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon and The Information by Martin Amis, Spin, July 1995
Tales from the Geronimo by Scott Frank, Spin, August 1995
After Yesterday's Crash: The Avant Pop Anthology, ed Larry McCaffery, Spin, September 1995
The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven, by Rick Moody, Spin, October 1995
Junglee Girl by Ginu Kamani, Spin, November 1995
In the Cut by Susannah Moore, Spin, December 1995
Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh, Spin, February 1996
Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa, New York Times Book Review, February 18, 1996
The Names of the Dead by Stewart O'Nan, Boston Globe, March 3, 1996
Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie, Chicago Tribune, November 17, 1996
Le Divorce by Diane Johnson, Philadelphia Inquirer, February 9, 1997
Seven Tattoos by Peter Trachtenburg, Spin, May 1997
Long Way to Go: Black and White in America by Jonathan Coleman, Chicago Tribune, September 28, 1997
"Mon Beau Rêve" (op-ed) The Haitian Times, March 1, 2000
City of God by E.L. Doctorow, Washington Post Book World, March 5, 2000
Second Hand by Michael Zadoorian, Chicago Tribune, February 20, 2000
The True History of Paradise by Margaret Cezair-Thompson, New York Times Book Review, October 17, 1999
The Name of the World by Denis Johnson, Philadelphia Inquirier, July 23, 2000
Provinces of Night by William Gay, Washington Post Book World, January 14, 2000
The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte by Robert Asprey, Boston Globe, January 28, 2001
Hideous Dream by Stan Goff, Chicago Tribune, April 8, 2001
The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa, Los Angeles Times Book Review, November 11. 2001
The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte by Robert Asprey, Boston Sunday Globe, December 16, 2001
Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl by Kate McCafferty, Boston Sunday Globe, March 10, 2002
Hollow Ground by Stephen Marion, Boston Sunday Globe, May 26, 2002
After the Dance: A Walk Through Carnival, by Edwidge Danticat, Washington Post Book World, August 28, 2002
The Little Friend, by Donna Tartt, Chicago Tribune, November 10, 2002.
Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre, Boston Globe October 26 2003
Prince Edward by Dennis McFarland, Washington Post Book World August 14, 2004
March by Geraldine Brooks, Baltimore Sun, March 13 2005
No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy, Book Forum, Summer 2005
The March, by E.L. Doctorow, Boston Globe, September 25, 2005
A Perfect Pledge, by Rabindranth Maharaj, Chicago Tribune October 2 2005
The Whale Caller, by Zakes Mda, New York Times Book Review, January 8, 2006
Wolf Boy by Evan Kuhlman, Boston Globe, July 16, 2006
Brief Encounters with Che Guevara by Ben Fountain, Boston Globe, July 30 2006
The Keep by Jennifer Egan, New York Times Book Review front page, July 30, 2006
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida, New York Times Book Review, December 31 2006
Seizure, by Erica Wagner, New York Times Book Review April 8, 2007
Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life by Beverly Lowry, New York Times Book Review
Up High In The Trees by Kiara Brinkman, New York Times Book Review, July 29, 2007
The Night Birds by Thomas Maltman, Boston Globe, August 12, 2007
Boone: A Biography by Robert Morgan, New York Review of Books, December 30, 2007
Song Yet Sung by James McBride, New York Times Book Review, March 2, 2008
The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 1, 2008
Massacre River by René Philoctète and ten other books by Haitian Writers, New York Review of Books, July 17, 2008
Vacation by Deb Olin Unferth, New York Times Book Review, November 23, 2008
Imperial by William T. Vollmann, New York Review of Books, October 8, 2009
Blame by Michelle Huneven, Boston Globe, November 29, 2009
Kissing The Mask by William T. Vollmann, Bookforum.com, April 6, 2010
http://www.bookforum.com/review/5556
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow, The Nation, July 19/26 2010
Killer of Crying Deer by William Orem, Salon.com, October 6, 2010, http://www.salon.com/books/review/2010/10/06/madison_smartt_bell_on_william_orem
Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War by Deb Olin Unferth, The Nation, March 28 2011
Netsuke by Rikki Ducornet, Boston Globe, May 1, 2011
other writing:
"Strange Yet Familiar" (note on Peter Taylor) Nashville Scene (December 20, 2001)
"American Stars and Bars," (essay) Callaloo, Vol 24, # 1, Winter 2001
Paris Review: "The Art of Fiction CLXIII (Interview with William Vollmann), (Vol 42, # 156, Fall 2000)
"Bar None," New York Times Magazine, March 3, 1996
"Miroir Danjere," Hudson Review, Winter 1996
"William T. Vollmann's Risky Business" (profile), New York Times Magazine, February 6, 1994
"An Interview with Madison Smartt Bell" by Mary Louise Weaks, Southern Review, Vol. 30 #1, Winter 1994
My Poor Elephant: 27 Male Writers at Work: "One Art" (autobiographical essay) Longstreet Press, 1992
Baltimore Magazine: "The School Of Hard Knocks" (article on local boxing gym) November 1990
Waiting For The End Of The World (screenplay) Commissioned by Cine Paris, 1988
The Safety Net (screenplay) Commissioned by New Horizons (Roger Corman)
Choc En Retour (screen adaptation of novel Straight Cut) Commissioned by Thomas Kuchenreuther, Munich, Germany, in progress.
Happy Families Are All Alike (half-hour filmscript) in production by Andrew Moore, New York, NY
The History Of The Owen Graduate School Of Management (nonfiction book) Vanderbilt University, 1988
Readers' Guides: The Franklin Library, 1979-83 (On Cervantes, Bronte, Twain, Fenimore Cooper, Tolstoy, Howells, Trollope, James, Pound, London, Plotinus, Aristotle, &c.)
Miscellaneous:
"A Propellor On A Skullcap" (note on Thelonius Monk), New York Times Arts & Leisure, June 13, 1993
"Rediscovering the Ageless Pleasures of Rereading," Boston Globe, June 20, 1993
books in foreign editions and in translation:
The Washington Square Ensemble:
British edition, Andre Deutsch, 1983
German translation (Washington Square, New York, Wilhelm Goldmann, 1990
Danish translation,(Ensemblet Fra Washington Square) Fremad, 1990
Spanish translation, Ediciones del Serbal, 1990
Waiting For The End Of The World :
British editions: Chatto & Windus, 1985; Sphere/Abacus paperback, 1986
German translation (Warten auf das Ende der Welt), Wilhelm Goldman, 1989
Straight Cut:
British editions, Chatto & Windus, 1987; Sphere/Abacus paperback, 1988
German translation (Ein Sauberer Schnitt), Wilhelm Goldmann, 1988
Danish translation (Klip), Samlerens Forlag, 1989
Spanish translation (Corte Directo), Editorial Circe, 1988
Portuguese translation, Editora Globo, 1990
Japanese translation, Shinchosa, 1990
Ein Sauberer Schnitt, Goldman Krimi, 1992
French translation (Coups Sombres) Actes Sud, 1994
Zero db:
British editions, Chatto & Windus, 1987; Sphere/Abacus paperback, 1989
German translation (Heute ist ein guter Tag zum Sterben), Wilhelm Goldmann, 1989
Japanese translation, Shinchosa, 1991
French translation (Coups Sombres), Actes Sud, 1994
The Year Of Silence:
British editions, Chatto & Windus, 1987; Sphere/Abacus paperback, 1989
German translation, Wilhelm Goldmann, 1990
Danish translation (Stilhedens Ar), Samlerens Forlag, 1989
Dutch translation (Een Jaar Stilte), Uitgeveri Unieboek, 1989
Spanish edition (El Año del Silencio) Circe, 1990
Barking Man:
British edition, Bloomsbury, 1992
German edition, Wilhelm Goldmann, 1992
Doctor Sleep:
British edition, Bloomsbury 1992
German translation, Wilhelm Goldmann, 1992
Save Me, Joe Louis:
French translation, Actes Sud (Paris/ Arles) 1994
Battery Park Heimwärts (German translation), Goldmann Verlag 1996
All Souls' Rising:
British edition, Granta Books, 1995
French translation (Le Soulèvement des Ames), Actes Sud, 1996
German translation (Aufstand aller Seelen), Zsolnay, 1996
Italian translation (Quando le anime si sollevano) Instar Libri, 1999
Ten Indians:
Dix Indiens (French translation) Actes Sud, 1999
Master of the Crossroads:
French translation: Le Maître des Carrefours (Paris: Actes Sud 2004)
Babel paperback edition 2007
Anything Goes:
French translation: La Ballade de Jesse, Actes Sud, 2009
The Stone that the Builder Refused:
French translation: La Pierre du Batîsseur, Actes Sud 2007
Lavoisier in the Year One :
Portuguese translation: Lavoisier No Ano Um, Sao Paolo, Brazil, Companhia das Letras Grandes Descobertas, 2007
Toussaint Louverture :
interviews & profiles:
Interview by Bob Summer, Publishers' Weekly, December 11, 1987
Interview by Ann Kolson, Philadelphia Inquirer, March or April 1988?
Interview by Robert Bradley, AWP Newsletter, February 1989
Profile by Bill Kent, Baltimore Magazine, May 1989
Interview by John X Kim and Yong Lee, Zeniada, Johns Hopkins University, vol xi, no. 1, fall 1988.
Essay-Review by George Garrett, "A Singular View of New York," The World and I, The Washington Times, January 1988
Interview in Japanese, Switch, 1988
Interview in Japanese, Switch, November 1991 Vol 9 #5
Interview by Randi Henderson, The Baltimore Sun, Sunday, March 24, 1991
"Criminal Codes," Interview with Craig Daniels, CityPaper (Baltimore) August 6, 1993
"An Interview with Madison Smartt Bell," by Justin Cronin, Four Quarters, Vol 9 #1 & 2, Spring 1995
"Madison Smartt Bell" interviewed by Alexander Neubauer, Conversations on Writing Fiction: Interviews with Thirteen Distinguished Teachers of Fiction Writing in America, Harper Perennial 1994
"Madison Smartt Bell: An Interview with Megan Sexton" (interview) Five Points v. 7 # 1, Winter 2003.
“Madison Smartt Bell and Laurent Dubois: The Haitian Revolution at the Crossroads”
Commonplace (www.common-place.org, vol 7 no. 4, July 2007
“A Writer’s Walkabout” by Laura Wexler, Style: Smart Living in Baltimore, November 2007
“Charming Banter: An Interview with Elizabeth Spires & Madison Smartt Bell” by William Walsh (The Writer’s Chronicle –AWP, February 2008)
“Stray Questions for Madison Smartt Bell” by Dwight Garner, Paper Cuts (New Times Book Review blog) September 7, 2007.
Égalité for All: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution (PBS premiere broadcast January 25 2009, PBS Home Video DVD released March 17 2009) interview and commentary.
“Madison Smartt Bell” interviewed by Vincent Jaury, Transfuge (Paris) #30, May 2009
“Rebel Music New and Old,” Paper Cuts: Living with Music (New York Times Book Review blog) January 7 2009: http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/living-with-music-madison-smartt-bell/
“Roundtable on Haitian Music,” (New Yorker blog, edited by Sasha Frère-Jones) March 24, 2009 http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/sashafrerejones/2009/03/roundtable-hait.html
For reviews of individual titles, see the New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Village Voice, The London Times Literary Supplement, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Herald, The San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, &c.
awards and honors:
The Lillian Smith Award, 1989
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, 1991
Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award, 1991
George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation Award, 1991-2
National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, 1992
National Book Award Finalist (for All Souls' Rising) 1995
PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist (for All Souls' Rising) 1996
Maryland Author Award (from the Maryland Library Ass. for All Souls' Rising), 1996
Annisfield-Wolf Award (for All Souls' Rising), 1996
Selected for Granta "Best American Novelists Under 40" issue, 1996
John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature, 2001
Member, Fellowship of Southern Writers, 2003- present
Goucher Chair of Distinguished Achievement, Goucher College, 1995-present
Fellow, Society of American Historians, elected 2005
Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2008
Fellow, the Leon Levy Center for Biography, City University of New York, 2011-12