Reading lists

Where to start reading Zadie Smith’s books

From novels to essay collections, here's our guide to reading the award-winning author's work.

Zadie Smith's best books, including White Teeth, On Beauty, Swing Time, NW and more.
Image credit: Freya Davidson Smith/Penguin. Photograph taken by Ben Bailey-Smith.

Zadie Smith was just 24 at the time her much-celebrated debut novel White Teeth was published.

In the 25 years since it was published, Smith has turned her hand to everything from novels to pop culture criticism and is celebrated by readers and literary critics alike. She has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, won what is now the Women's Prize for Fiction, and been named in Granta's 20 Best Young British Novelists list twice.

From essays to fiction and criticism, here's our guide to where to start reading Smith's books.