Hello, I’m Seana Smith

My quit lit memoir ‘Going Under’ is out now

With a tender touch, Smith contemplates the two truths of her childhood: the wild island adventures and the brutal eruptions behind closed doors. Standing on the precipice of her own alcoholism, she realises that reckoning with the past is the only way to shape the future.

Jenny Valentish

Author of Woman of Substances

Going Under is funny, insightful and inspiring.  This is like hanging out with a really brilliant friend who, you know, will make you a better person.

Seana Smith is the real deal – a truth-teller and a writer of immense integrity.

Kathryn Heyman, Author of Fury

Buy Going Under

In Australia: Going Under is available in bookshops and online stores in Australia and on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Going-Under-memoir-secrets-addiction/dp/0645497231/

In the USA: https://www.amazon.com/Going-Under-memoir-secrets-addiction/dp/0645497231/

In the UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Going-Under-memoir-secrets-addiction/dp/0645497231/

Going Under Audiobook: Going Under on Audible, narrated by Seana Smith, click here.

Going Under on Spotify: Listen to Going Under on Spotify here.

With sparkling, musical prose and unflinching generosity of spirit, Seana Smith lays bare the facts of a life stalked by alcohol. A life that ricochets ‘between privilege and terror, between adventure and fear.’

So much more than a book about the booze, Going Under is an intricate, often beautiful mosaic of family, the individuals caught inside its sharp-edged cracks, and the self yearning to make sense of all it all. The story of a woman emerging from the brokenness of the past and the never-ending pressures of the present to reclaim joy. 

Honest. Tender. Laugh-cry funny. Walking with Seana through her year of Going Under is to make a new and wise friend.

Kim Kelly, author of Ladies’ Rest and Writing Room

On this website you will find writing on all my favourite subjects:

  • my published books
  • podcasts
  • alcohol-free adventures
  • ocean swimming

Latest stories

Five Australian Swimming Books: Great Presents for Swimmers

Swimming is both a childhood rite of passage in Australia and a national obsession. Surf beaches, harbour pools, rivers, billabongs, creeks and dams are where children learn to swim, keep on swimming and then visit with their own kids and …

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5 Things I Do Not Miss About Drinking

Top 5 Things I Do Not Miss About Drinking And another: I do not miss waking up in the mornings thinking: ‘What rubbish was I talking last night.’ Because, when drinking, I have what we call in my family ‘Smith …

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Best Hotel Pools in Singapore

I am planning to stop over in Singapore on my next trip back to the UK. So now I need to work out which is the best hotel to stay in Singapore, and by best I mean the one with …

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You’re either worried about your drinking, or you’re not

You’re either worried about your drinking, or you’re not. And if you are not, then how did you find your way here!?? Haha, everyone is welcome. But I do think that the world is a bit binary, it’s all a …

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There’s Nothing Wrong With A Crutch

Everyone needs a hand sometimes or a leg up, sometimes both. And everyone needs a crutch at various times in their lives, even if what they need is not actual medical crutch. We need to lean on things and we …

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Saigon Stories – Without Beer

James is an excellent guide, a chatterbox with excellent English, perky and enthusiastic, he was born in 1990, so must be 29 years old. James keeps his iPhone 11 in his hand and keeps us in hand too, all of …

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Swim The World – My Swimming Stories

  • Best places to swim in various cities around the world
  • Why swimming is so good for us
  • Australia’s best ocean swimming
  • Swimming pools and hotel pools

Alcohol-free adventures

  • best sobriety books
  • Non-alcoholic drinks to enjoy
  • Our sober journey stories

The Publisher & The Writer Podcast

Find podcasts and show notes covering all aspects of writing and publishing books in Australia.

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