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Bill Smoot

@billinberkeley.bsky.social
28 followers 13 following 23 posts

Writer, teacher at Mount Tamalpais College at San Quentin Prison.

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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Sometimes we think we have someone’s full narrative based on who they voted for or where they ended up, but no matter who it is, we don’t know their story until we ask. Think of the last time you judged someone. How did they surprise you? #authorsky #philosophy
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
I don’t visit Kentucky much now, but my roots are strong. I grew up in a small town called Maysville. It felt familiar—like a nest. I knew everyone in Maysville, and I loved it there.
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.” — George Washington Carver Words from the wise. #booksky
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
The cover for my forthcoming literary fiction novel, SAN QUENTIN EXODUS, is here. A story infused with pain, but also with a fierce humanity and hope, SAN QUENTIN EXODUS is a braided novel about two people whose lives cross in a quest to reset an ill-fated life.
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Did you know that San Quentin has a prison newspaper? It’s called SAN QUENTION NEWS.
sanquentinnews.com
San Quentin News – Written By Incarcerated – Advancing Social Justice
Written By Incarcerated - Advancing Social Justice
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
“In one week Allison Anderson will commit her first felony: section 4550 of the California Penal Code, helping someone escape from a state prison. Almost everyone who knows her would be stunned with disbelief. For her, it’s the ultimate realization of who she is.” SAN QUENTIN EXODUS, ix. #booksky
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Stories start with a seed for me. The seed can be a scene, a character, or a place. #authorsky
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
“I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.’” -Toni Morrison Wise words. #booksky
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Another hiking picture with Artemis. She’s more interested in the view than the camera. #dogsofbluesky
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Facts you should know about SAN QUENTIN EXODUS (part 1): James’ nickname is Shakespeare. He received the nickname for writing an English essay about his dog in high school. #booksky
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Check out the San Francisco Ballet. I thank the gods that my college girlfriend dragged me to a ballet. Watching it has become a favorite pastime. I don’t need to explain why San Francisco is so wonderful, but it’s an extra advantage to have a superb ballet company here. #balletsky
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Someone noted the many animals in my work. It’s not my rational plan; they appear in my imagination with the delight & surprise animals often have in our lives. That’s why I love this photo of my previous dog, Athena. It records an unlikely meeting of two creatures in the East Bay hills.
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
“Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.” -Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie #booksky
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
James is in a production of HAMLET in my book SAN QUENTIN EXODUS. San Quentin and theater have a history. Check out this article about a production of WAITING FOR GODOT that helped create the San Quentin Drama Workshop. #booksky
americantheatre.org
Nothing But Time: When ‘Godot’ Came to San Quentin
How the Actor's Workshop's storied 1957 performance set the stage for collaborations between correctional facilities and U.S. theatres.
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
When working on my forthcoming novel, SAN QUENTIN EXODUS, I avoided reading fiction set in prisons. I didn’t want those works to bleed into my own creation. With my novel complete, I could read Rachel Kushner’s highly acclaimed THE MARS ROOM. It’s a compelling read by a great writer. #booksky
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I’ve always been a dog person. #dogsofbluesky
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
My muse, Artemis.
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
I am happy for the review of San Quentin Exodus in the San Francisco Book Review. sanfranciscobookreview.com/product/san-... #booksky #writing
sanfranciscobookreview.com
San Quentin Exodus - San Francisco Book Review
Bill Smoot’s San Quentin Exodus is a thoughtful, deeply humane novel that blends social realism with quiet suspense. Written with restraint and intelligence,
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Bill Smoot @billinberkeley.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Bill Smoot, writer and humanities teacher at Mount Tamalpais College in San Quentin Prison My novel, SAN QUENTIN EXODUS, will be out in June, and my short story collection, NOT SO LONG AGO, in November.
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