• Professor of American Literature and Culture, University of East Anglia

Thomas Ruys Smith is an award-winning academic and writer. He is Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. A world-leading expert in the cultural and social history of Christmas, the life and work of Mark Twain, and the history of children's literature, his expertise has been sought out by a wide variety of international publications, from Time, The Economist and USA Today to The Guardian and The Financial Times.

His ground-breaking work on the literary history of Christmas can be found in Searching for Santa Claus: An Anthology of the Poems, Stories and Illustrations That Shaped a Global Icon (Boiler House Press, 2025), Christmas Past: An Anthology of Seasonal Stories from Nineteenth-Century America (Louisiana State University Press, 2021) and The Last Gift: The Christmas Stories of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (Louisiana State University Press, 2023). He's currently at work on an edited collection about the Transatlantic literary history of Christmas.

Much of his research has focussed around the social and cultural history of the Mississippi River. His first book, River of Dreams: Imagining the Mississippi Before Mark Twain (Louisiana State University Press, 2007) was an interdisciplinary examination of the different roles played by the Mississippi in antebellum American culture. His second book, Southern Queen: New Orleans in the Nineteenth Century (Continuum, 2011), was an exploration of the life and culture of one of America's most fascinating cities during a crucible period in its history. His latest book, Deep Water: The Mississippi River in the Age of Mark Twain (Louisiana State University Press, 2019), is a pioneering account of Twain's intimate and long-lasting creative engagement with the Mississippi.
Recently, he has become involved in an ongoing project with Redwings Horse Sanctuary about the lives and legacies of Anna Sewell, Mary Sewell, and Black Beauty. He has published new editions of both Black Beauty and Mary Sewell's poetry.

With his colleague Hilary Emmett, he also edits the Children's Corner Critical Editions series for the UEA Publishing Project, which publishes books produced in collaboration with UEA students.

He has also written for a number of magazines, including New Statesman, BBC History Magazine, and History Today, and appeared on radio (BBC Book Café, BBC 6Music, BBC World Service, BBC Radio Norfolk) and television (Heir Hunters, Myth Hunters).

He is co-editor of the journals Comparative American Studies and New Area Studies.

He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

• –present Professor of American Literature and Culture, University of East Anglia

MENAFN04122025000199003603ID1110439430