Joanna Oltman Smith

was born and raised in Berkeley in the Age of Aquarius until college brought her East. She resides in Brooklyn where she’s a full-time mother, urbanist, and community activist serving on her local Community Board and civic committees addressing issues ranging from transportation to police/community relations to parks. Her poetry often intersects with her political interests. Anna Deavere Smith selected her to participate in the groundbreaking Mattering Forum, an arts-based exploration of American policing. Her poem “The Beauty of Uncertainty” recently received an Honorable Mention from Indiana Humanities on the occasion of the Indy 500’s centenary.