The character arc of Zadie Smith

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 25 October 1975 in Willesden, London. Between then and now sit Malorees Junior School and Hampstead School, English at King's College, Cambridge, White Teeth in 2000, The Autograph Man in 2002, a Radcliffe fellowship from 2002, On Beauty and the Orange Prize in 2005 and 2006, NW in 2012, Swing Time in 2016, a Grammy in 2022 and The Fraud in 2023. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Zadie Smith?

Sold before it was finished.

She was born in Willesden in north-west London in 1975 and went to Malorees Junior School and Hampstead School before reading English literature at King's College, Cambridge. While she was still an undergraduate, an unfinished manuscript of her first novel attracted a publisher, which is a thing that happens perhaps once a decade in British publishing.

White Teeth was published in 2000, when she was twenty four. It is a very large, very confident book about three families in the part of London she grew up in, and it made her, more or less overnight, the most discussed young novelist in the country. Having that happen at twenty four is not obviously a gift.

The Autograph Man came in 2002 and On Beauty in 2005, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2006. She was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard from 2002 and became a tenured professor of fiction in the New York University creative writing programme in 2010. NW followed in 2012, Swing Time in 2016 and The Fraud, a historical novel, in 2023, alongside essays and short stories. She won the Langston Hughes Medal in 2017, a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2018, the Bodley Medal in 2022 and, as a featured artist, a Grammy Award in the same year.

The moments

Zadie Smith's timeline.

The 1990s

Jun 1997

A manuscript, unfinished

Milestone, and it changed everything. An unfinished first novel, written as an undergraduate, that found a publisher before she had finished it.

The 2000s

27 Jan 2000

White Teeth

Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty four years old, and the most discussed young novelist in the country.

Sep 2002

Harvard, and a second novel

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A second novel and a Harvard fellowship in the same year.

1 Jun 2003

Repeat White Teeth, or not

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: write something else, taken, or write it again. Six novels in, no two of them are the same book, and On Beauty won the Orange Prize.

Sep 2005

On Beauty

Milestone, and it changed everything. A third novel, written in and about an American university.

6 Jun 2006

The Orange Prize

Milestone, and it changed everything. The prize for fiction by women, six years after the first novel.

The 2010s

Sep 2010

A chair at NYU

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A tenured chair in New York, at thirty four.

4 Sep 2012

NW

Milestone, and it changed everything. Back to the postcode she grew up in, twelve years after the first book set there.

15 Nov 2016

Swing Time

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A fifth novel, and two American honours after it.

The 2020s

3 Apr 2022

A Grammy, and a medal

Milestone. A Grammy and an Oxford library medal, in one year, for a novelist.

5 Sep 2023

The Fraud

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A historical novel, twenty three years after the first book.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is six novels that refuse to settle into one shape, by somebody who was handed enormous attention at twenty four and did not let it decide what she wrote next.

What she wrote

Books by Zadie Smith

2000
White Teeth
Her first novel, published at twenty four, sold on an unfinished manuscript written as an undergraduate.
2002
The Autograph Man
Her second novel, published in the year she took a Harvard fellowship.
2005
On Beauty
Set in an American university. It won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2006.
2012
NW
Back to the north-west London postcode she grew up in, in a very different register.
2016
Swing Time
On dance, friendship and two girls from the same estate.
2023
The Fraud
A historical novel, published twenty three years after her first book.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

Hers had everything happen at twenty four and then kept working for a quarter century. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

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Zadie Smith: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Zadie Smith's character arc?

A first novel sold on an unfinished manuscript while she was still an undergraduate, published at twenty four to enormous attention, and then a quarter century of books that each refused to repeat the one before.

What is White Teeth by Zadie Smith?

Her first novel, published in 2000 when she was twenty four, about three families in north-west London. It made her more or less overnight the most discussed young novelist in the country.

What prize did Zadie Smith win for On Beauty?

The Orange Prize for Fiction, in 2006. On Beauty had been published in 2005 and is set largely in an American university, which is a long way from the London of her first book.

Where does Zadie Smith teach?

She became a tenured professor of fiction in the creative writing programme at New York University in 2010. Before that she was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard from 2002.

Where did Zadie Smith study?

At Malorees Junior School and Hampstead School in London, and then English literature at King's College, Cambridge, where she was still an undergraduate when a publisher took her unfinished first novel.

What awards has Zadie Smith won?

The Orange Prize for Fiction in 2006, the Langston Hughes Medal in 2017, a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2018, the Bodley Medal in 2022 and a Grammy Award as a featured artist in the same year.

What is The Fraud by Zadie Smith?

Her novel of 2023, a historical one, published twenty three years after White Teeth. It is the sixth of her novels and, like each of the others, sits in a register none of the previous ones used.

Where does this timeline of Zadie Smith's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Zadie Smith isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Zadie Smith, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Orange Prize for Fiction, 2006 winner.
Publisher records for White Teeth, On Beauty, NW, Swing Time and The Fraud.