Letters to a Young Artist

by Anna Deavere Smith

From "the most exciting individual in American theater" (Newsweek), here is Anna Deavere Smith's brass tacks advice to aspiring artists of all stripes. In vividly anecdotal letters to the young BZ, she addresses the full spectrum of issues that people starting out will face: from questions of confidence, discipline, and self-esteem, to fame, failure, and fear, to staying healthy, presenting yourself effectively, building a diverse social and professional network, and using your art to promote social change. At once inspiring and no-nonsense, Letters to a Young Artist will challenge you, motivate you, and set you on a course to pursue your art without compromise.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Writing, Theatre, Plays, Self Help, Philosophy

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2006

About the author

Anna Deavere Smith (born September 18, 1950) is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is currently the artist in residence at the Center for American Progress. Smith is widely known for her roles as National Security Advisor Nancy McNally in The West Wing and as Hospital Administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. She is a recipient of The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2013), one of the richest prizes in the American arts with a remuneration of $300,000.

In 2009 Smith published her first book, Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics. In 2006 she released another, Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts-For Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Kind.

As a dramatist Smith was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for Fires in the Mirror which won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. She was nominated for two Tony Awards in 1994 for Twilight: one for Best Actress and another for Best Play. The play won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and a Theatre World Award.

Smith was one of the 1996 recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as the "genius grant." She also won a 2006 Fletcher Foundation Fellowship for her contribution to civil rights issues as well as a 2008 Matrix Award from the New York Women in Communications, Inc. In 2009 she won a Fellow Award in Theater Arts from United States Artists.

She has received honorary degrees from Spelman College, Arcadia University, Bates College, Smith College, Skidmore College, Macalester College, Occidental College, Pratt Institute, Holy Cross College,[disambiguation needed] Haverford College, Wesleyan University, School of Visual Arts, Northwestern University, Colgate University, California State University Sacramento, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wheelock College, Williams College, and the Cooper Union.

The United Solo Theatre Festival board awarded her with uAward for outstanding solo performer during the inaugural edition in November 2010.

In 2013, she received the 2012 National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama.

Reviews

[Patrick Vasco · Rating 2 out of 5]

tl;wr I read it twice for school and this book is a "straight-up" ad for Anna Deavere Smith. Make no mistake.


Long Version:

If you want a quick synopsis of this book, just read her Wikipedia article - because that's all it is.

This book is a 200-page clickbait article littered with ads and unashamedly made for them as well. It has 0 respect for your time or intelligence.

Is there some genuine insight into the nature of life and art? Sure.

But make no mistake, this book was made to be sold. The usual exchange between reader and publisher is ideally, at the very least, "I'll buy your book and you give me some useful information.". Not at all. Not here.

There is so much endless name-dropping, self-fellating, whatever-she-felt-like-writing-in-that-immediate-moment garbage - it's like watching a filler episode of a show interspersed with ads every 4.5 minutes.

Absolutely, unashamedly self-indulgent. Beginning to end.

AND SO. MUCH. NAME-DROPPING.
NAME-DROPPING.
NAME-DROPPING.

She name-drops every other page. I am not exaggerating in any way - I really wish I were. This book is a "straight-up" ad for Anna Deavere Smith. Go ahead - literally go to a bookstore and take just a solid minute to flip through this thing.

You'll see just an absolute litany of accredited individuals you will never know - that you will never possess any reason to know, that you are in no way expected to know - explicitly named and throughly pedigreed - all for the sake of validating her general work/this book. 0 respect for your time or any prospect of personal standards, as I stated prior.

Honestly, not even being mean? It's pathetic. I would count how many times she does this but, in short, it's over 100. Just literally find a copy, skim through it, and you'll see for yourself.

The advice that is genuinely given presupposes an audience that possesses either little to no self-esteem or individual, potentially contradictory thought at any point in one's life on the 50+ random subjects she decided to rant about to meet her page count. Anna Deavere Smith made this book to make money. Plain and simple. Read it with this in mind and you will not be able to unsee it. I tried. Yet here I am writing this to implore you to avoid this work, if at all, possible.

I imagine she, very literally, said something like "Hmm... I know! I'll write down like, 50 topics, get drunk - and rant about them! It'll be easy AND people will eat that shit up. I'm *famous*. Critics want their name on my book - and all they'll be doing... is praising ME! HAAHAHA!"

Facetiousness aside, ADS assumes (as it would greatly help) you're an absolute blank slate of a human being; either unwilling or generally adverse to demonstrating critical thought. Not to worry, however - she states every offhand opinion she's probably had in the last 10 minutes so you don't have to spend too much time or effort attempting to develop your own.

Again - Is there some insight here? Sure, there's some. If you can wade through the infinite bog of tedious self-promotion long enough to extract a few gems of Instagram-level, wino musing-esque insight - it's yours for the taking!

This book is the equivalent of listening to a 14-year old state how good he is at everything and then attempting to give you, a hard-working and self-respecting adult, some *truly* inspired advice.

"Dude, then why don't you just stop reading it."

Had to read it for a class. So I read this whole. fucking. thing.

Twice.

I'm ashamed to have wasted my money and personal capacity supporting yet another individual who possessed no greater agenda than - surprise - to promote themselves. ADS is so self-entitled, any genuine insight she espouses comprises no more than 25% of this "book".

It's an ad. The Oscar bait of "literature".

I didn't even waste my time attempting to think of more fitting euphemisms or witty analogies because I absolutely did not want exert more effort than she did writing (read: dictating this aloud to a tape recorder) this. blahblahblahnapkins yeah

She even appropriates other (almost always specifically ethnic) individuals' personal anecdotes to give it more of that hip, from-the-streets, liberal vibe. She literally didn't even write these parts. Just had to throw that in there real quick.

Do I have the right to be this upset? Absolutely. I paid good money to read this shit.

Twice.

"Straight-up Advice"
ALL. DAY.
LONG.

I'll end with a quote from Her Majesty, Herself (from Discipline - pg. 35):

"We who work in the arts are at the risk of being in a popularity contest rather than a profession. If that fact causes you despair, you should probably find another profession." - Anna Deavere Smith

Agreed.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

A loosely organized collection of musings on working in the arts. The tone struck me as being very much born from a woman who has "made it" and gained so much respect and success in her career. So there are plenty of gems. But there are just as many asides about lunch with the rich and famous and references to the most impressive highlights on her resume. For a book purported to be so focused on putting art into the hands of a young artist, it made the art world seem completely unattainable. Beyond the great and occasionally poignant insights on confidence, self-esteem, and creation, most of the concrete advice I absorbed was 1. move to New York and 2. be well-connected to lots of other famous talents. I found myself wanting more substance, even more personal anecdotes from her obviously fascinating life. It ended up feeling like a mix between a watered down memoir and a self-help book.

One of the gems:

"Art should take what is complex and render it simply. It takes a lot of skill, human understanding, stamina, courage, energy, and heart to do that. It takes, most of all, what a great scholar of artists and educators, Maxine Greene, calls “wide-awakeness” to do that. I am interested in the artist who is awake, or who wants desperately to wake up."

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anna Smith's book, written to the young artist reader, is engaging and easy to read. Her style is simple, to the point, and eloquent. She has some excellent chapters on determination, procrastination, developing presence...etc. which are thought provoking and inspiring. She has relatively good insight into the deeper workings of the artistic mind and helps the reader to become more intentional with their lives as artists, as well as more aware of the artist's place in this world. Nonetheless, her writing are influence by the typical relativistic, whatever-feels-right-to-you, self-esteem driven, Oprah style mind set. Read with a grain of salt.

[Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actress, MacArthur fellow and Professor Anna Deavere Smith's performance at the North Carolina Literature Festival was one of the most astonishing I have ever seen. She has interviewed hundreds of people, famous and not, who do meaningful work with their lives or who have lived through life-changing or life-shattering experiences or both--a privileged white doctor witnessing the humanity and inhumanity at Charity Hospital after Katrina, a victim and survivor of the Rwandan genocide, Texas Governor Ann Richards prior to a procedure to treat her esophageal cancer and many more--and then she embodies them--body and soul-- powerfully onstage.

This slim volume, written in epistolary form to a young artist she calls BZ, is full of ADS's wisdom, insight, empathy and toughness, as she advises the young woman how to make her way in the creative life. Ignore the title; it is for artists and creative people (i.e. all people) of all ages. Only wish it had been longer.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this but could already reread it. There's something to words presented as letters that has great appeal to me.

The book is full of advice both practical and personal for anyone pursuing a creative endeavor. There's also a substantial list of resources for artists, both state and federal. (You could track them all down online, I'm sure, but it's nice to see them in print.)

Smith's writing is warm, thoughtful, direct, with sprinkles of tough love. It's also a glimpse into her life, travels, and thoughts on events occurring as she wrote the book.

This is one I'd like to have on my shelf for reference.

[kt · Rating 3 out of 5]

i mostly bought this to help raise funds for the local femenist bookstore. but then i started reading it...

this is a good antidote to the romantic solitude you find in rilke's "letters... (see my review of rilke in my booklist)" ADS is very refreshing and i did come away with some practical advice. although i have to say that a good bulk of what she writes seems like something i would have needed to read five or ten years ago.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good advice for creative people. Anna Deavere Smith has pithy observations about life, great stories about her life as an artist, and sets forth a very clear idea of what it means to be an artist and interact with the world.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like this book. there are small gems and it can be the pep talk when you can't give it to yourself.

[Syed Bukhari · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books for those creative souls who are seeking non-management advice on their careers and life in general.

[Jonathan McPherson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book probably just found me at the right time but it is genuinely some of the best advice I’ve heard for those interested in the arts. For my actor friends Smith has a little extra experience in your field, this book might provide some extra insights on your craft. It’s short enough to not be too time consuming and entertaining enough to keep the reader throughout the span of the book. That being said it could be as short or long of a read as you want, some of these prompts and conversations deserve some introspection and response, since the book provides the structure of letters there is likely some call-and-response journaling that could be done in tandem with this book. I will be reading this book again.

[Leylamaría · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Thank you for your letter, Young Artist. Maybe someday we will meet.
The answer is the Work. To Work. To care about the Work.”

[Abby Jarvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I will return to again and again.

[Keaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an essential read for my career. It completely changed how I view the arts, the world, and myself. Highly recommend it!

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this book in Borders last night and read half of it in one sitting. (I'm going to have to go back and read the other half soon). It would make a great bathroom book beacuse it is organized as a series of short letters, some no more than a few words. Parts that jumped out to me: ADS talks about presence and what it is to have it. In her opinion it means being aware and engaged. People who are the most compelling are the ones who are interested in other people. This seems counterintuitive to me: that what draws attention is giving attention. Etymologically I can see the connection though, presence requires being present. ADS says all of this in a more succinct and interesting way so even if my description doesn't float your boat, the book is still an interesting read. 3.5 - I really wish there were half stars.

04/16/08: Just finished. Another part that interested me was ADS' recommendation to her students in the wake of a school tragedy. A number of the students felt alienated and she suggests that they "try to suspend their personal feeling of alienation and look instead for alienation in others and offer consolation when they see it".

Her advice for procrastination is to jump into the task immediately, before you can even think about putting it off. Since reading that I have experimented with that and I have to admit that it works.

In a letter entitled "The Death of Cool " she says:

"So the death of cool... would do what? It would probably bring more tones, more color, more emotion, more love, more raw spirit, more argument, more energy. More authenticity? More compassion? More laughter? More tears? More open hearts?
Try it. Be uncool. As uncool as you can possibly be. Write to me about the result.
Be hot."

I wrote out the whole part because besides loving the sentiment I like the rhythm to the way ADS wrote it. I have wasted a lot of time chasing "cool" and other norms. It is empowering to have someone saying to risk life on my own set of terms.

I also appreciated her discussion on why the artist does not have to suffer (her point: doctors don't have to have every disease they treat, bakers don't eat every cake they make...) to make art that is of value.

(I should insert a parenthetical here, before I get too carried away, that I found the tone of the book to be a little name-droppy but the ideas to be useful.)

I struggle with the fear that most art, art without a political spin, is trivial. But, this book offered me the idea that there is value in having a unique perspective on the world and communicating it. That it is enough to be alive and interested in the world and asking questions about it. That those questions and investigations have equal value with the questions being explored in other fields. And for this I am truly grateful.

[Julene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Anna Deavere Smith. I enjoyed this book and would rate it 3.5 if I could, it's a quick read with each chapter a written response to a young artist (it is called fiction, but it sure feels real reading it). The information in it is not new, but I like how she puts pieces together and throughout the book she gives the reader ideas to keep one's spirit up about the work of creating art. One section titled Find Your Twin, she gives the task to do this very thing and says, " These are the exchanges through art that make the world seem manageable." I identify with this and her story of finding a Brazilian dancer who she totally felt was her spiritual twin.

In the chapter Auditioning, Selling Your Wares, she compares the artist to clowns. "Clowns are always working in relation to authority. Authority is no-nonsense, but the clown is tireless, always trying for, wishing for, approval. It's hard to be a clown. To wish for approval is to make oneself vulnerable. Clowns are tough, ultimately. They have to outsmart the nonchalant ones around them, and at the same time endear themselves to the audience, the ones in charge." She sees the artist as the outsider who comments back, and the importance of this role "as a platform from which you seduce others, while at the same time you have to do what it takes to get the job."

In the chapter Your Name, Your Fame she says, "...the need to be heard is not enough. To be heard is only part of the engagement. To develop a voice, you need to develop an ear. To develop a vision you need to develop an eye. To develop your mark as an artist, you need to see the marks of others—especially the marks of those who are unrecognized. Everyone around you is making a mark of some kind." I love these equations, they are so ordinary yet make so much sense.

In the section on Stage Fright she talks about the tremendous energy it takes to put yourself into the public, and about the term Diva. Why the backstage is such a potent place, it is where the show is nurtured, hence the flowers, the food, the place of safety to come from and to from the on stage presence.

An upbeat book that inspires.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute confirmation of what any artist with a shred of sincerity knows to be true. Stated in warm, human letters written to a teenager. these short chapters are affirming and enlightening at any age. After 20 years as a professional musician, working often in experimental areas, I can say this all applies to us too. Certain issues return at every stage: searching for a balance of paying the rent and taking risks, managing authority, and staying on track with just doing the work, to name a few.

"Are you becoming an artist because you want the world to look at you? Or Are you becoming an artist because you would like to use your ability to attract attention-- and the ability to get people to look at your work--in order to cause them to see themselves and the world differently through you?"

Each letter is written on a topic like "Presence" "Confidence" "Procrastination" Trust" "Jealousy" "Fear" "Empathy" "Urgency" and "The Death of Cool" . Each gets to the heart of one or two core issues.

For years I have liked the way Anna Deavere Smith says what she says; I like her perceptions and her take on it. She is one of the most inspiring artists working today, and I would encourage anyone in any field to read her work, but especially artists/performing artists and anyone looking for energy to speed you on your path of commitment to changing society for the better.

This book is another example of an artist being healthy, hard-working, intelligent, full of vitality and awareness.

If I could choose anyone living at this moment to study with, to coach me or give me feedback on my work, whom I have not yet met but whose work I find fascinating, it would be Anna Deravere Smith.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an interesting approach to writing a book of advice, Smith addresses a collection of "letters" to an imaginary young person who aspires to have a career in the arts and who seems to have reached out to her for guidance. This gimmick makes you feel closer to Smith, but is also stretched a little far. Sometimes it simply adds a little to the book's overall eccentricity, and sometimes it grows tiresome. This hit-or-miss quality also characterizes the book itself. Organized loosely around themes that evidently emerged after the author cobbled together several years' worth of uncollected musings and reflections, the "letters" often make brilliant points. But almost equally often, they wander off topic and stay gone long enough that you wonder what, if anything, Smith had set out to convey. Fortunately, Smith is mostly very likable (at times a bit self-indulgent), and writes in a fresh, lively voice. Whether she's writing specifically about working in the arts, or going beyond that to more general questions, she strikes a nice balance between offering warm encouragement and being no-nonsense. I enjoyed the mix of practicality and nurturing. I struggled through some of the middle of the book, but felt the early and later sections made up for the more meandering parts.

[Ahmad Moshrif · Rating 3 out of 5]

not much ...

but I really liked when she talks about discipline, here is the key takeaway by Maria Popova from
brainpickings.org:

She (ADS) recounts an encounter with the son of Melvin van Peebles, a black filmmaker who made a smash-hit independent film in the seventies that earned him a lot of money and cultural status. The son, Mario van Peebles, had made a film about his father’s film, a screening of which Smith hosted. She writes:

"He must be in his mid-sixties, and he is in perfect physical shape. He was standing by the bar, and I asked him not about the film but about his physique.

“You look like you work out,” I said.

“Every day,” he said.

People who actually work out every single day have no problem talking about it. He and I agreed that we have to get up and go immediately to the gym, the pool, wherever our workout is, without doing anything before.

“If I get up and think, ‘Let me have a cup of coffee first,’ it ain’t happ’nin’,” he said.

Not even a cup of coffee. I’m the same way. If I go to the computer or take a newspaper before heading to the gym, there’s a chance I won’t get there."

[Rini Cobbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

ADS doesn't waste time with wimpy, elementary, or patronizing tips and inspirations for an artist. Peppered economically with personal anecdotes, each essay instructs fundamental, practical, and philosophically persuasive work for an artist to do. She addresses process, feelings, sociality of art, business, physiology, responsibility, joy, belief, and so many specific tasks and values. Even while engaging many familiar ideas, I kept finding myself wanting to share and practice what I was hearing, as well as to occasionally practice a little push back. I would almost literally jump at a chance to sit and listen and talk with ADS about teaching and mentoring and work and art. And young artists. The book is passionately no-nonsense. (I also can't help picturing her delivering these letters in the style of the formidable National Security Advisor Dr McNally's interrupted-gala-dressed entrance to the Situation Room, WW S2E1, "Good evening everybody. Mike, could you have somebody send over some clothes from my office, please? I look like an idiot.") I recommend the audio version, read by the author.

[miha · Rating 4 out of 5]

zelo všeč!!

zbirka vseh avtoričinih pisem ki jih je pisala neki mladi umetnici kot njena mentorica oz. ji je v teh pismih svetovala kako se lotit ustvarjanja, na kaj bit pozoren, kaj je pomembno v svetu umetnosti, ...
zelo fajn, cel kup stvari za premislt :)

Discipline - don't think about it, just do it, have a shedule and stick to it

Determination - believe you can do it and don't stop until you succeed, believe in yourself and in the process

The joy of being there, of doing it, enjoy what you do, and it will show, be honest

Procrastination is active avoidance, if you procrastinate you're only robbing yourself
and the only way out is to move

BE MORE THAN READY, BE PRESENT IN YOUR DISCIPLINE. REMEMBER YOUR GIFT. CHERISH IT. TAKE CARE OF IT AND PASS IT ON TO OTHERS.
START NOW, EVERY DAY becoming in your actions, what you would like to become in the bigger scheme of things

[Karunagrace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a mixture of practical advice and personal reflection on being an artist in the world. Anna Deavere-Smith is insightful and honest about what it means to be an artistic person trying to make a living and what it takes to be successful. This isn't a pep talk or one of those personal growth books that pretend to solve all your problems in eight simple lessons. It is more in keeping with Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, using personal experiences as starting points for rich meditations on a variety of topics relevant to being an artist--not just as an occupation, but as a way of life. What young artist wouldn't want such a personable and generous mentor?

[Bridgette Hoshont'omba · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read “Letters to a Young Artist” in 2013. I had signed up for a college level theatre course at my local high school, and this was one of two books required for the course. Once Smith’s book arrived at my house I dived in and did not stop reading until the pages were marked from top to bottom and I had memorized nearly everything that she had said. This is definitely a book for anyone who wants to be or would consider themselves an artist.

FULL REVIEW COMING SOON!

[Keisha Kogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I have ever read on preparing for and working in the arts. Anna Deavere Smith tells us such perfectly fundamentals things for living that we have completely forgotten, having presence, paying attention, developing discipline and listening to those around you. The thing I learned that I most appreciate - be prepared. Read it whether you work in the arts or not.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the letters didn't speak to me, some felt like I'd need to return to them in a few years or a dozen, and others lit me up. At the moment I am living by this line from one of the last letters in the book: "You have an invisible badge of freedom, an invisible passport that says, 'Go—move, gather, be bold, be brave, see, take, absorb.'”

[Brett · Rating 1 out of 5]

i loved 'fires in the mirror' and perhaps approached this book with too high of expectations. the introduction was absolutely inspiring and there were some good sound-bites throughout- but i just couldn't get into it.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended by Jodi, a fellow Goodreads participant who is also an artist. Anna Deavere Smith writes to a fictional young artist regarding issues relative to working in the arts. Affirming and helpful.

[Susan Conley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books that talk art and the making of art and do it in a way that inspires people to get out there and start working. This book has given me ideas to bring into the various writing classrooms I find myself in.

[Sana]

This was a very comforting and reaffirming book. Good book and good, practical, advice into the life of an artist, what to expect, what to do, etc. The fact that it's written in the form of letters is a big bonus.

[Kerry]

fun, she supposedly taught at my school but i NEVER SAW HER

[Meg Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never in my life have I read a more inspiring book. I was left each page with a strong desire to do anything and everything I've ever wanted to do.