2024 BPL Local Authors Expo Spotlight: Stephanie Smith

 

Stephanie Smith, who goes by pen name Samantha Lewis, author of I Want my Darn Skates

What: 2024 BPL Local Authors Expo Presented by Tri-County Ala Chapter of The Links, Inc.

When: Saturday, November 2, 10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m. 

Where: Central Library, 2100 Park Place in downtown Birmingham
About the author: Stephanie Smith, using the pen name Samantha Lewis, is the author of I Want My Darn Skates. The book is a memoir about a woman who grew up poor and experienced family drama. She leans on faith to overcome many challenges.  

Stephanie Smith says she is a true living testimony that God can bring you through trials and tribulations. Using the pen name Samantha Lewis, Smith has written her first book, I Want My Darn Skates, a memoir about a woman who overcame family drama, extreme poverty and other trials by leaning on her faith in God.

Come meet Smith  and other writers participating in the 2024 BPL Local Authors Expo this Saturday, November 2 at the Central Library downtown. The free event, being held between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., will feature 30 authors selling and autographing books. This year's theme is  "AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Publishing." 

In her memoir, "I Want My Darn Skates," Lewis is from a poor black family from Birmingham, Ala. Raised by a single mother who had 10 other children with multiple fathers, Lewis did very well in school but dropped out of high school after the eleventh grade after becoming pregnant to get married.

She got her GED and entered the Air Force in 1978.  After completing 6½ years in the Air Force, Samantha got divorced. The book explores marital  challenges, sickness and other issues.

While working at the Social Security Administration upon returning to Birmingham, Lewis experienced many events that motivated her to cry out to God for help.

“God told her that she had a good story in her.” Smith said. “God told her that if she wrote her story, that He would bless it.”

I Want My Darn Skates begins when Smith was 9 years old and devastated by the death of her brother in the Vietnam War. It progresses through her high school years and enlistment in the U.S. Air Force. 

"Life inspired me to write my story of sickness, disappointment and sorrow," Smith said. "I learned a lot but there was so much sadness. People can learn a lot without having to experience it themselves. I hope people earn most of all that God and Jesus are the only ones we can count on. His way is the best way."

By Roy L. Williams, Public Relations Director|Birmingham Public Library