Dennis A. Smith (1) (1961–)

I'm a singer, songwriter, author and founder and main creative force of Lions Quarter Publishing. I grew up in Hammond, Indiana with my mother and 15 siblings. My relationship with her and my childhood heroes taught me to keep going long after others would have given up. My first book was an audio and print learning program geared toward the high school – adult learning student, "That’s Smart! How to Improve Learning Habits," released in 2010 to critical praise. Since them, I released an updated and expanded second edition with a third edition in the works. I wrote two novels: "Black on Black," an urban crime thriller set on the South Side of Chicago; and this year’s "How to Commit Suicide," a novel about two people who discover the need to reinvent their lives by “killing off” the hopeless, negative people they used to be. In between, I wrote a musical, "The 9/11 Project," about the experiences of soldiers and veterans of the War on Terror set against the history of the decade after 9/11, which I since re-wrote as a stage play suitable for smaller local and college theaters. My current project is another musical about four friends who are constantly fighting and find out in the end they are stronger together.