A frequent Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, VA Smith’s work has appeared in dozens of literary journals, among them: Southern Review, Calyx, Crab Creek Review, West Trade Review, Third Wednesday, and SWIMM. Her first two books are Biking Through the Stone Age and American Daughters (Kelsay Books, 2022 and 2023). Her third full-length poetry collection, Adaptations, was published by Green Writers Press in September 2025. Her chapbook of Philadelphia poems, Urbanity, will be released in September 2026, published by Seven Kitchens Press.

A Liberal Arts Teaching Excellence awardee at Penn State University as a former Professor of Teaching in the Department of English, VA currently serves as Poetry Editor of the River Heron Review.

Her bliss is writing, traveling, cooking, hiking and loving on friends and family.