"Elizabeth Smart, author of the classic By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, has long been seen as a woman determined by "Romantic" love. In this new look at her life, Kim Echlin shows that another - powerful - source of her creativity was rooted in her fearless exploration of the female body and psyche - as daughter, lover of men and women, an single mother raising four children fathered by a British poet." "Women's creativity and relationships are the preoccupation of Elizabeth Smart's Writing. Echlin shows how Elizabeth Smart's determined embrace of her own unconventional experience in her art belongs to a literary tradition of writers who create female characters with a will toward individuality. To the last pages of Elizabeth Smart's life-long diaries, she never stopped challenging herself to stop doubting, to live and speak her truth, even though it put her on the margins throughout her life." "Echlin brings new material to bear on this reflection, including over one hundred interviews and a collection of never before published letters in which Smart reflects on birth, childrearing, and female creativity."--Jacket.