Amber Smith

Amber Smith is an American author whose young-adult fiction confronts the aftermath of sexual trauma with unflinching honesty. Her debut novel The Way I Used to Be, tracing the four years of a girl's life after she is assaulted by her brother's best friend, became an award-winning bestseller and a landmark of YA literature.

Smith, who herself grew up in the American South, wrote the book from a deep commitment to giving survivors a mirror. Her later novels continue to centre girls navigating grief, healing and growth, and she is regarded as one of the most important new voices in serious fiction for young adults.