Fear Less is a great inhale of much-needed air. Smith has once again shown us that she is both brilliant and tender as she explores the ways poems can change us. This is a must-have book.--Ada Limón, 24th U. S. Poet Laureate and author of The Hurting Kind

What a sincere kindness we have been granted with this book. Fear Less is an invitation for even the most reticent among us to approach poems with generosity, curiosity, and an open heart. And in the process, Smith reminds us to cultivate those same habits in our dealings with others and with ourselves.--Eve L. Ewing, author of 1919

Using her rare blend of lyric precision, intellectual depth, and civic consciousness, Tracy K. Smith considers how language can reshape, resist, and reform a nation. Smith resists numbness, defies borders, and offers a deeper articulation of what is truly at stake: our shared humanity.--Mahogany L. Browne, author of Chrome Valley and poet-in-residence, Lincoln Center

I can think of no more inviting, generous, thoughtful, curious, and serious a guide into poetry than Tracy K. Smith. Fear Less is a book I will share with the people in my life who love poetry, and the people in my life who might.--Ross Gay, author of The Book of Delights

Smith can get away with returning to the question that most poets hope will die, because her answers are sincere and vital in this moment: 'Does poetry matter? Why not ask does imagination matter? How about patience, courage, humility, hope, and awe?'-- "Literary Hub"

A spirited literary journey.-- "Kirkus Reviews"

That poems are like people is a point the former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith nods to repeatedly in her wonderful new book of criticism, Fear Less, which will open your eyes to aspects of poetry you may not have thought of on your own... [a] rewarding little book.--David Kirby "New York Times Book Review"

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Pub date: 2025-11-18

Length: 192 pages