Tracy K. Smith came to Books at Noon to discuss discuss her latest work, Ordinary Light.

When and where do you like to read?

Whenever and wherever I can. But because I travel so much, I find that some of my best reading time comes on airplanes.
 
What were your favorite books as a child?

Little Women is one of the books that made me want to be a writer. So was Mark Twain's The Diaries of Adam and Eve.
 
Do you have any strange writing habits (like standing on your head or writing in the shower)?

No. I write with great alacrity whenever I can steal time away from teaching, traveling and being a parent.
 
What are five words that describe your writing process?

Following where long thoughts lead.
 
How have libraries impacted your life?

Libraries, with their vast quiet rooms and tall windows, have always helped put me into the rapt and imaginative space where language becomes clearer and more present.