Alena Smith is the creator, showrunner and executive producer of the critically-acclaimed series Dickinson, which ran for three seasons on Apple TV+. Dickinson won a Peabody Award and was named on over 70 “Best of TV” lists for 2021, including the New York Times. The show was twice nominated for a GLAAD Media Award, and has been  recognized for its groundbreaking queer representation. Costumes, props, and set pieces from the show helped to refurbish the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA. Previously, Smith served as writer and producer on Showtime’s The Affair and HBO’s The Newsroom. 

In addition to Smith’s writing for the screen, her essays have been featured in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She studied playwriting at the Yale School of Drama; her plays have been produced around the world. Published plays include Icebergs, The Bad Guys, Plucker, The Lacy Project, and The New Sincerity, which the New York Times called “Splendid... entertaining and thought-provoking... comedy with a poignant edge.” Alena is also the author of Tween Hobo: Off The Rails, a novel based on her mid-2010s cult Twitter account, @tweenhobo.