Zadie Smith

On Killing Charles Dickens

Zadie Smith writes: I did everything I could to avoid writing my historical novel. When I finally started “The Fraud,” one principle was clear: no Charles Dickens.

The Secret History of Black England

When the novelist first read Gretchen Gerzina’s 1995 book Black England, she discovered the complex and unexpected lives of black people in England before the abolition of slavery. Two decades on, the stories still have the power to astonish

Take It or Leave It

From 2013: Zadie Smith writes that every New Yorker has heard a newly arrived British person grumble about tipping.

Monsters

Sweet Charity

Lending money to a friend

Dead Man Laughing

Zadie Smith on the things her family found funny.