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Paula Vene Smith

Paula Vene Smith is a professor of English at Grinnell College who teaches and writes about diaries.

Woman writing in bed (Getty Images/luza studios)

Handwritten diaries may feel old fashioned, but they offer insights that digital diaries can’t match

Paula Vene Smith
"The Color Purple" author Alice Walker attends the "The Color Purple" Broadway Opening Night at The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on December 10, 2015 in New York City. (Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images)

Alice Walker’s “Gathering Blossoms Under Fire” and the rare gift of Black women’s published journals

Paula Vene Smith