Norman Samuda Smith was born in Birmingham, England of Jamaican parents who came to the UK in the early 1950s. His first novel Bad Friday was published in 1982 by Trinity Arts, Birmingham, and was short-listed for the Young Observer Fiction Prize later that year. Bad Friday was republished in 1985 by New Beacon Books (London/Port of Spain), and confirmed him as the first Black British born novelist to be published in the UK.

His short-stories have been featured in award winning anthologies Whispers in the Walls ; (Tindal Street Press, Birmingham 2001), The Heart of Our Community; (Timeless Avatar Press U.S.A 2006), and his poems are included in the collection, Songs of Hope; (Timeless Avatar Press U.S.A 2006). He has recently self-published three of his books in 2013, Britannia's Children, Freedom Street and Bad Friday; and is currently the Writer/Editor/Publisher of the on line cultural review PANTHER NEWSLETTER and its mother site SAMUDA SMITH PUBLICATIONS.