Ronald L. Smith is a children's book author. He is the author of ''Hoodoo'' (2015), ''The Mesmerist'' (2017), ''Black Panther: The Young Prince'' (2018), ''The owls have come to take us away'' (2019), and ''Gloom Town'' (2020). For ''Hoodoo'', Smith won the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

Coretta Scott King Coretta Scott King ( Scott; April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his assassination in 1968. As an advocate for African-Ameri ...

/ John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

Early life

Smith was born in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

to a military family that moved frequently; he also lived in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, and

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

, among other places. His love of fantasy and science fiction novels began as a child, but he first worked as a writer in advertising before turning to writing children's fiction.

Fiction career

Smith published his first book, ''Hoodoo'', with

Clarion Books HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the " Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. HarperCollins is ...

in 2015. Set in the 1930s

, ''Hoodoo'' earned Smith the

/ John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Smith's second book, ''The Mesmerist'' (Clarion Books, 2017), is set in London at the turn of the century. In January 2018, Smith published a children's novel for

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

featuring Marvel's superhero

Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...

. The book, ''Black Panther: The Young Prince'', was released just prior to Marvel's Black Panther film. Reviewing the book in the ''Bulletin of the Center for Children's Literature'', Kate Quealy-Gainer wrote, "Fans will notice allusions to

T'Challa Black Panther is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist-coplotter Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' Fantastic Four'' #52, published in July 1966. On ...

's future adventures as the ruling Black Panther, but even the comic-book averse will relate to T'Challa's negotiating of middle-school dynamics and may also appreciate his cleverness, as he faces down his enemies." The ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...

'' named the book to a list of eight fantasy "must-reads" featuring a black protagonist; their January 2018 review called it a "must-purchase for all collections."

Personal life

Smith lives in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ronald L. Living people Marvel Comics writers American children's writers Writers from Baltimore Writers from Maine American fantasy writers African-American novelists 21st-century American writers Year of birth missing (living people) Coretta Scott King Award winners