Naomi Gladish Smith

Naomi Gladish Smith, born in England to American parents, is the daughter and granddaughter of Swedenborgian ministers, and while religion has been a central part of her life and her three recent novels, The Arrivals, The Wanderers, and The Searchers, are about the afterlife, when she began writing, her work certainly hadn't anything to do with religion. Matter of fact, her first book, Buried Remembrance, was a mystery.

Her essays on a variety of subjects have appeared in venues as diverse as The Christian Science Monitor, JAMA, and Chrysalis Reader anthologies and her short story, "Lamartine's Wife" is in the current issue of Soundings Review . She has read about a dozen of her essays on WBEZ, Chicago's NPR station.

When writing essays and stories, Naomi often found herself describing her religious background and beliefs. From there it wasn't a far step to writing novels that may provide an answer to the question most of us ask: "What happens when we die?"

The Arrivals, The Wanderers, and her latest novel, The Searchers, can be ordered from the Swedenborg Foundation (www.Swedenborg.com), and of course from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Look in the 'Works' section for more about The Searchers, reviewed in the January 24, 2011 Publishers Weekly and in the Mar/​April issue of ForeWord Review. The novel was twice a Literary World "Religion Daily Book Pick" and also a finalist in the "USA Best Books 2011 Awards".

Naomi now lives in Glenview, Illinois and Lake Worth, Florida. She is still fascinated by the subject of the afterlife and continues to write about it.