Patrick D. Smith, Florida Author of A Land Remembered, Forever Island

"Dear Mr. Smith -
A dear friend of mine recommended “A Land Remembered” to me about a year ago. I got it, and read it all in one sitting. I was enthralled. I grew up in Florida (in Ft. Pierce, to be exact) and as I read your words, my mind raced to all the places you mention, and I could imagine my hometown and the surrounding locations in the early days. It made me appreciate even more than I did just what a wonderful treasure is being squandered. The back country and slash pine are giving way to housing developments and each time I come home, another little piece is eeked away.
I have since given this book to about 10 of my friends and family - and they are all as moved by it as I. Thank you, for such a tremendous gift.!"

Becky King

About Patrick Smith

Patrick Smith is a 1999 inductee into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, the highest and most prestigious cultural honor that can be bestowed upon an individual by the State of Florida.
In May 2002 Smith was the recipient of the Florida Historical Society’s Fay Schweim Award as the “Greatest Living Floridian.” The one-time-only award was established to honor the one individual who has contributed the most to Florida in recent history. Smith was cited for the impact his novels have made on Floridians, both natives and newcomers to the state, and for the worldwide acclaim he has received.

Smith has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize, in 1973 for Forever Island, which was a 1974 selection of the Reader’s Digest Condensed Book Club and has been published in 46 countries; in 1978 for Angel City, which was produced as a “Movie of the Week” for the CBS television network and has aired worldwide; and in 1984 for A Land Remembered, which was an Editors’ Choice selection of the New York Times Book Review. In the 2002 The Best of Florida statewide poll taken by Florida Monthly magazine, A Land Remembered was ranked #1 Best Florida Book. The novel also ranked #1 in the 2001 poll. Smith’s lifetime work was nominated for the 1985 Nobel Prize for Literature, and since then he has received five additional nominations.

In 1995 Patrick Smith was elected by The Southern Academy of Letters, Arts and Science for its highest literary award, The Order of the South. Previous recipients include Eudora Welty, James Dickey, and Reynolds Price. In 1996 he was named a Florida Ambassador of the Arts, an honor given each year by the state of Florida to someone who has made significant contributions to Florida's cultural growth. In 1999 Smith was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, which is the highest and most prestigious cultural honor the state bestows upon an individual artist. Prior inductees include writers Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ernest Hemingway.

In October 1990 he received the University of Mississippi’s Distinguished Alumni Award and was inducted into the University’s Alumni Hall of Fame. In 1997, the Florida Historical Society created a new annual award, the Patrick D. Smith Florida Literature Award, in his honor.

Thousands of people of all ages have enjoyed his books and his talks. With his new DVD, A Sense of Place, you can spend an intimate hour with this soft-spoken author and gain an insight into the creative processes that resulted in his beloved books.

Following is a recent email to Patrick Smith. He has received hundreds of similar notes of appreciation for his work:

Dear Mr. Patrick D. Smith,
As both a fan of all your books and a middle school Language Arts teacher, I have taught A Land Remembered for the past seven years. This year, I’ve had my sixth grade Literature class at Rosarian Academy, 807 North Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach read and journal this amazing book. In short…they have been captivated! When we complete the actual reading next week, they will begin a several week project of creating 24”X24” dioramas, depicting some aspect of the book. In support of this diorama, they (teams of four students) will also writing a narrative explaining the who, what, when, where, and why of their particular project. On Monday, May 21st, the students in each of the three sixth grade classes will use their class periods as an open house for parents, relatives, and friends. Clad in appropriate period dress which also connects to their dioramas, they will present their narratives, then answer questions about their projects and the book in general. I understand that you have been ailing (in fact, they have mentioned you as a special intention during their morning prayer), but I write to you – besides simply to thank you for the special book – to invite you to attend our Diorama Day. I imagine you receive at least one invitation a day to this sort of thing, but I promised my kids that I would write and ask. If this is an impossible request, please don’t feel bad…we understand that this is a long shot…but you never know unless you ask. Under any circumstance, thanks for all you have done for our kids and our state. God bless.

Sincerely,
Peter Cohane