Background
Her mother was the granddaughter of a plantation owner and Confederate war hero. Her father, like Wilbur Kelly in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, was a watchmaker and jeweler of French Huguenot descent.
Her mother was the granddaughter of a plantation owner and Confederate war hero. Her father, like Wilbur Kelly in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, was a watchmaker and jeweler of French Huguenot descent.
Smith graduated from Columbus High School. In September 1934 at age 17, she left home on a steamship from Savannah, Georgia, planning to study piano at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. After losing the money set aside for her tuition, she never attended the school.
Guggenheim fellow, 1942-1943, 1946. Recipient of award from American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1943. Received Guggenheim fellowship, two times.
Author: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, 1940. Reflections in a Golden Eye, 1941.
Fellow American Academy Arts and Letters.
Married Reeves McCullers, September 20, 1937.