Clay Smith (he/him) is the literary director of the Library of Congress. The office at the Library that he directs, Literary Initiatives, curates the National Book Festival and oversees the Library’s literary ambassadorships such as the United States Poet Laureate and the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, among others. He is the former editor-in-chief of Kirkus Reviews and the literary director of the Texas Book Festival and the San Antonio Book Festival. He was elected to the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle in 2015.
