Lee Smith writes about life and the South

Lee Smith has always been a Southern girl.

The author of 12 novels, Smith grew up in Virginia and has lived in the Chapel Hill area for more than 30 years.

To promote “Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger,” a compilation of stories that was released in paperback in May, Smith is currently on tour visiting local bookstores.

In a phone interview, Smith discussed her roots and progression as a writer.

DTH: At this point in your career, what does this particular novel mean to you as a writer?

Lee Smith: This book is really, really, really special for me. To look at this collection (of stories), it’s as close as I’ll ever get to a memoir. Each story is set in a time and a place that brings back that whole part of my life. Each one is very special to me.

I think that’s one of the great things about writing, how each story is a capturing of you, whether you realize it or not. It’s almost like a journal.

DTH: How important is it to you to be involved with the community, to interact with your audience?

LS: The thing about writing is that it’s not only about expressing yourself. It’s just like email or Twitter — it’s a means of communication. But, oddly enough, you don’t always get to complete the loop because you don’t always get to meet your readers.

DTH: When did you begin to call yourself a writer?

LS: I don’t know. I was always sort of scared to say it. I was afraid I would jinx it because I was very lucky, I felt, to be getting published.

I kept thinking, “This is all a mistake. This is a fluke. They’re going to catch on to me.” [Laughs]

I think I was publishing my fourth book before the time came. That was something I never used to do.

DTH: What is it about the region that provides you with your writing material?

LS: I think that it’s always a surprise to northerners to find out, when they come down here, that there is not just one South, there are many Souths.

I grew up in the Appalachian South, which is very different than where we are right here, right now, in North Carolina — where I have lived for so long — the Piedmont South.

So, the stories are different in both places. But wherever you are in the South, people will just talk a lot — they are very forthcoming.

I think for that reason, I’m the kind of writer who has a lot of first-person narrators, a lot about people telling their own stories. This is a place that fosters that. These aren’t cerebral stories, these are people you know.

DTH: You draw heavily from your own life experiences. Do you think your friends try to look for themselves in your stories?

LS: [Laughs] I’m sure they do, but they can’t find themselves, because it is, of course, fiction. Though my ideas often come from what happens to me, or from people I run into, they would never recognize themselves because they will be so utterly changed.

Frankly, I love to make stuff up. I get easily bored fast with nonfiction. [Laughs]

Contact the Arts Editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.