Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, ’65, author of five critically acclaimed novels and a new thriller, Love Her Madly, knew she wanted to be a writer from the moment she learned to read. Her father, a gifted storyteller, would tell her stories as he tucked her in at night, sparking her interest in weaving fictional tales. “Libraries,” she says, “were castles to me.” A native of Hartford, Smith earned her B.A. in English literature from CCSU, and will return to her alma mater as part of her current book tour on March 12.

Beginnings
Noted for creating exceptionally vivid characters, Smith believes her writing talents were first honed at CCSU. A psychology course required her to write a 100-page autobiography as an exercise in self-exploration. Most students were wary, but Smith jumped at the opportunity. She believes this experience helped her create characters because she had to delve so deeply into her own psyche.

Smith often bases her novels on historical events. Masters of Illusion, for example, focuses on the Hartford Circus fire, and Love Her Madly is based on the case of Texas murderer-turned-born-again-Christian Karla Faye Tucker. Her deep interest in history, Smith says, took root at CCSU in a course taught by Dr. William O. Williams, a history professor who, according to Smith, “turned history into stories.” Mesmerized by his stories, she was swept away by the historical visions he would create during class lectures. While other students would frantically take notes, Smith would watch and listen as he would dramatically tell tales unfolding history. Needless to say, her grade reflected the fact that she didn’t take notes, but it didn’t matter to her: what mattered were the stories.

Although historical events may form the basis of many of Smith’s works, she uses them only as a starting point for complex character and plot development. She sculpts her characters, molding them into individuals who reveal themselves and their secrets as they develop in her mind. Smith’s first books were very much character driven, making them complex and vivid. And such vibrant characters have attracted the attentions, Smith says, of several big-name actors and producers interested in turning her novels into movies.

Going Up Country
Ten days after she graduated from CCSU, Smith entered the Peace Corps, unaware, perhaps, that she would be further enriching her stock of stories. Before going to her assignment in Cameroon, Smith spent three months training at Columbia University, learning from geologists and diplomats about what to expect once she reached Africa. This involved intensive training in everything from language to learning how to fix a Jeep motor.

While in Cameroon, Smith’s assignment was to establish a public library. Today, Smith reports, that library is thriving and has been greatly expanded.  When Smith went to Cameroon, many African countries had only recently gained independence from European colonizers. There were schools but no teachers. So, many of the Peace Corps volunteers worked as teachers. She was happy to be able to help build the library, to leave a visible sign of the work she had put into her time in Cameroon.

These proved fertile times for Smith’s writing. Her experiences in Cameroon have been published in a collection of travel essays by Peace Corps writers entitled Going Up Country, and much of her novel Lament for a Silver-Eyed Woman is based on her Peace Corps years.

Sharing Her Passion for Writing
Smith thinks of her writing as a vocation. “You can choose to ignore the calling,” she says, “but it never goes away. It’s always there.” She instills that sense of vocation when she works with high school students. She tells her students not to be discouraged if they can’t finish a story, and she informs them that it takes at least two decades of living before one can hope to write a novel. She also tells her students they shouldn’t pressure themselves to create. She believes that writing is a discipline unlike any other. In contrast to composers and painters, there are no child prodigy writers. One evolves into a writer, Smith says, as one ages and gains knowledge and experience.

She often works with students who attend the Young Writer’s Institute at Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford. High school sophomores, they come together from urban and suburban schools to write every weekend of the year. At the end of the year, they choose their best piece for submission to a published writer who edits it and returns it with feedback.  Eventually, their works are published in a volume put together by the program. The students share a passion for writing, and Smith believes their work is in many ways more brilliant and passionate than the work of students she has taught at the college level.

Returning Home
When Smith returns to CCSU as part of her current book tour, she will get a chance to meet creative writing students at the University. “I’m eager to return to where I was first encouraged to become a writer.  I’m excited to see how the campus has changed, especially with the addition of the new Vance Academic Center.”

The book tour is designed to promote Smith’s Love Her Madly, which converts a minor character, Poppy Rice, from a previous novel into a protagonist. This will be the beginning, Smith says, of a series of crime novels featuring Rice, described by Kirkus Reviews as a “spunky, tough-talking FBI agent.” Smith’s other novels include Lament for a Silver-Eyed Woman (1987), The Port of Missing Men (1989), The Book of Phoebe (1985), and Masters of Illusion: A Novel of the Hartford Circus Fire (1994).

— Leslie Porter

CCSU Courier