Michael A. Smith

Michael A. Smith was born in Kansas in 1942 and received a baccalaureate degree in history from Kansas Wesleyan University. He attended graduate school at the University of Kansas for two years. From 1968-73, he worked for several Midwestern newspapers as a reporter, columnist, editor, and editorial writer, specializing in coverage of politics and education. From 1973-81, he was Associate Director, Illinois Board of Higher Education. Thereafter, he served as Press Secretary to U.S. Congressman Richard Durbin, who later became a U.S. Senator representing Illinois. From 1984-87, he was Vice President, Public Relations, for the Futures Industry Association, a Washington, D.C. financial services trade association. During 1992-93, he worked as as a reporter for The Training Times, the newspaper of the Seventh Army Training Command, Grafenwoehr, Germany. Among other subjects, he wrote about the plight of refugees from the Balkan wars. Since then, he has pursued creative writing, having published to date eight novels, a book of essays and a three-act stage play. He is currently working on an illustrated children's story and several screenplays.