Sarah Smarsh proudly considers herself a “daughter of the working class.”
In fact, the Kansas-based author is a fifth-generation farm girl whose impoverished mother was a mere 17 when discovering her pregnancy.
But Smarsh never shies away from this seemingly unpromising background.
Instead, her writing embraces that facet through equal parts fierce confessional, sneaky allegory and relentless boots-on-the-ground journalism. Smarsh wields a voice that specifically speaks about herself while somehow simultaneously speaking up for everyone.
“Believe it or not, I don’t walk around thinking about poverty and class issues all day,” says Smarsh, a former Kansas City and Lawrence resident who currently lives in rural Kansas.
“Just like anybody who has a particular focus, we’re more complicated and nuanced beings. What I choose to include in my books is strategic and organized by that principle.”
Her latest book is titled “Bone of the Bone: Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class.” It hits shelves Tuesday and is published by Scribner.