An Exclusive Interview with Dean Bartoli Smith, Author of Magic Show

What happens when a lifetime of memories, family stories, personal experiences, and literary influences make it onto the page?
For poet and nonfiction author Dean Bartoli Smith, writing has become a way of exploring not only the world around him but also the people, places, and experiences that have shaped his life. His latest book, Magic Show, published by Codhill Press, is his third poetry collection, following American Boy and Baltimore Sons. At the centre of Magic Show is an extraordinary family discovery: after his mother's death, Smith found hundreds of her previously unpublished poems hidden in a compartment behind her books. Her writing eventually became an important part of his own literary journey and helped shape the collection's emotional world.

But an author is more than a single book.
In this exclusive Bibliophile Talks interview, we go beyond Magic Show to discover the person behind the poetry—his journey as a writer, creative influences, reading habits, hobbies, writing routines, memorable moments from his publishing career, the lessons he has learned along the way, and what may be coming next.
Dean Bartoli Smith also shares his reflections on how his writing has evolved, the relationship between poetry and non-fiction, the importance of literary influences, and the future of his work.

1. Please tell our readers a little about yourself and your journey as a writer. 
D. I’m the director of Duke University Press and a poet. I’ve always liked to read and write. I’ve stuck with those two things. I can shoot a basketball too. I needed to make sense of a chaotic world at an early age. I spent a lot of time observing and thinking about what I was going through because there was no one to listen to. My parents' divorce devastated me at seven, but that also, in retrospect, liberated me. On the other side of the loss, there was a path. 

 2. Congratulations on the release of your new book “Magic Show”. What is the story behind Magic Show—where did the idea for this collection first begin, and how did it evolve into the book readers have today? 
D. Magic Show began as a poem about a failed relationship. What happens when the sleight of hand no longer captivates an audience or your lover? I started it in the 1990s when my first marriage was failing. It took on greater meaning as I reflected on my life and on a world whose tricks are failing. The magic comes in embracing chaos and failure with love.

3. You have worked across poetry and nonfiction, with American Boy, Baltimore Sons, and now Magic Show. Looking back, how has your writing voice evolved from your first book to your latest collection? 
D. The writing has evolved with my work on manuscripts as an editor developing nonfiction and poetry. My voice got stronger with less detachment. I developed more courage to look inside myself and into the cosmos. The magic depends on the spade work that leads to realisation. My poems rely on story and place. I think about the poetry books as a series or a trilogy. The American Vespers or something like that. 

4. Authors are also readers. What are you currently reading, and what kinds of books do you naturally gravitate toward when you're reading purely for pleasure? 
D. Save a Seat for Me: Notes on American Fatherhood by Mark Anthony Neal; Killing Spree by Jorie GrahamDegas at the Gas Station by Thomas Beller

5. Your work draws on a fascinating range of influences, including music, baseball, family history and American culture. Which books, writers, musicians, films or artists have shaped the person and writer you are today?
D. Writers: Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, T. S. Eliot, Emily Dickinson, Charles Wright, Paul Muldoon, Richard Jones, Shirley Brewer, Liz Hazen, Moira Egan, Campbell McGrath
Movies: Apocalypse Now, Brasil, The 32 Short Films of Glenn Gould, Breaker Morant, Diner, Goodwill Hunting, 
Musicians: MJ Lenderman, Katie Crutchfield, Jerry Garcia, Jeff Tweedy, Gillian Welch, Elliot Smith, Ian Smith, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Neil Young

6. Have you ever experienced writer’s block? How did you deal with it? 
D. I’ve never really thought about it. There may have been a “what’s the point” moment in my thirties after reading Bukowski. Writing happens. Then it doesn’t. The climb back up to the chair gets steeper. Exercise is the greatest editorial salve. The time before sleep and waking up provide spaces to think about a story or a poem.

 7. You have written both poetry and nonfiction. How does Dean the poet differ from Dean the nonfiction writer when you sit down to work?
D. Dean the nonfiction writer works on the ground, focusing on reportage. The poet bends that evidence into art from a personal archive of memory, desire and pain. The poems in Magic Show evolved from the previous two collections to include more supernatural subjects—the afterlives of grief, UFOs and dreams.

 8. Can you walk us through your typical writing routine? Are you an early-morning writer, a late-night thinker, or someone who writes whenever inspiration strikes? Do you have any particular writing rituals, favourite places, or routines that help you get into the creative zone? 
D. A rickety tiger oak desk ushered American Boy, Baltimore Sons and Magic Show into the world. I write in bursts and then spend a lot of time editing. I sketch out the idea and let the process grow and fester between the lines and the poems. “Take care of the pennies and the dollars follow,” said Paul Muldoon. “Get out of the way of what the poem will become.” As long as you have a notebook and can get things on paper, you have a chance at a poem.

9. What was the most rewarding—and the most challenging—part of writing a book? 
D. The most rewarding moment comes from the thing you never expected—the 8th grade student who finds something in a poem you had no idea was there. Revision presents the biggest challenge and knowing when something is done.  

10. Every author faces challenges. What has been the most difficult part of your writing journey, and how did you overcome it?  
D. Balance. I’m not a methodical writer. Just getting it on the page. Finding the time with a full slate.

11. When you're not working or writing, how do you like to relax? Do you have any hobbies or interests that readers might be surprised to learn about? 
D. I shoot baskets by myself, play bad guitar and pickleball. 

12. Your books contain deeply personal experiences, but they also engage with larger cultural and historical moments. How do you decide what belongs in the private world of memory and what deserves to become part of a book? 
D. That line blurs every day. It feels like I can access the beginnings of a poem more easily now. It’s often subjects that work on multiple levels. Irony plays a role. 

13. Writers often have one book that changes them while writing it. Was Magic Show that book for you? And if so, what did it teach you about yourself as a writer? 
D. It led me to explore how it all came about from a poem I wrote at sixteen and a diary of dreams I kept. It’s the best collection of poems I’ve published. I worked closely with an editor who is a poet. He helped me create a structure that led to deeper internal exploration.
I’d never done that before. It opened the door to process and to writing another book. 

14. If you could recommend three books that have profoundly impacted your life, what would they be, and why? 
D. Life Studies by Robert Lowell – It introduced me to free verse. I didn’t know you could write poems about these things. 
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce – The concept of creating the uncreated consciousness of a race. 
Ariel by Sylvia Plath – The voice and it’s ferocity.

15. You have been writing for years and have seen the publishing world change considerably. What is one thing about being an author today that differs greatly from when you began? 
D. Today, the author needs to play an active role in finding an audience. You must find ways for the book to resonate in the moment. Poetry publishers don’t have the machinery to generate buzz and interest. 

16. What has been the most unexpected or memorable moment of your journey as an author so far—something you never imagined would happen when you were starting? 
D. There used to be a magazine shop in NYC called Niko’s where all the literary journals were displayed. I remember the day when I walked down to the shop in the West Village and bought the Poetry East that included my poem, Obsession. 

17. If you could sit down for coffee with any writer—living or from literary history—for one completely unhurried conversation, whom would you choose and what would you ask them? 
D. There are so many. Let’s say Emily Dickinson because it goes with the next question. Her poems appear in my mind frequently. “Because I could not stop for death…”

18. What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who writes privately yet hesitates to call themselves a “writer”? 
D. It took years for me to call myself a poet. I’m mostly happier letting someone discover this about me. It’s a completely different persona than the one that runs a publishing house. Keep doing the work because it may be only for your growth and progress, and when you are comfortable with who you are in the work and what it represents, share it.

19. Is there a particular genre or type of book you would love to explore as a writer in the future that readers might not expect from you? 
D. I’m toying with a dystopian fantasy novel.

20. Now that Magic Show is complete, are you already thinking about your next book? If you can share anything about your upcoming writing project, what can readers look forward to? 
D. It started with the idea: The Secret Lives of Point Guards. There are pieces that arose at the end of Magic Show that form the foundation of it. It’s outside of the trilogy of American Boy, Baltimore Sons and Magic Show. It leans into the idea of the basketball poet. Point guards are also magicians. 

Rapid-Fire Round:
• A poem that has stayed with you?– Meeting the British by Paul Muldoon
• Poetry or nonfiction? – Poetry 
• One musician you'd love to meet? – John Lennon
• Describe Magic Show in just three words. - Love, not regret
• Baseball game or poetry reading? - Baseball game

From discovering his mother's hidden poems to building a literary career across poetry and nonfiction, Dean Bartoli Smith's journey reflects the many experiences that can shape a writer's voice. Magic Show may offer readers an intimate window into his world, but his journey as an author extends far beyond one collection.
Through this conversation, we hope readers have discovered not only the stories and inspirations behind Magic Show, but also the person behind the books—the reader, writer, dreamer and lifelong observer whose experiences continue to find their way onto the page.
Whether you are already familiar with Dean Bartoli Smith, discovering Magic Show for the first time, or simply interested in the journey behind an author's work, this exclusive author interview on Bibliophile Talks offers a closer look at the creative mind behind the books—and perhaps a few clues about where his writing journey may take him next.
Book: Magic Show
Author: Dean Bartoli Smith  
Publisher: Codhill Press  
Publication Date: October 15, 2026  
Genre: Poetry

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