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{{short description|American poet, novelist, and vocalist}}
{{Short description|American poet, novelist, and vocalist (1944–1999)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
{{Infobox writer
| image =
| image = Photo of Sherley Anne Williams.jpg
| imagesize =
| imagesize =
| name = Sherley Anne Williams
| name = Sherley Anne Williams
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| pseudonym =
| pseudonym =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1944|08|25}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1944|08|25}}
| birth_place = [[Bakersfield]], [[California]], U.S.
| birth_place = [[Bakersfield, California]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1999|07|06|1944|08|25}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1999|07|06|1944|08|25}}
| death_place = [[San Diego]], [[California]], U.S.
| death_place = [[San Diego]], California, U.S.
| occupation = Poet, [[novelist]], [[professor]], [[vocalist]], [[playwright]] and [[social critic]]
| occupation = Poet, novelist, professor, vocalist, playwright and social critic
| nationality = American
| nationality =
| period =
| period =
| genre =
| genre =
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| influenced =
| influenced =
}}
}}
'''Sherley Anne Williams''' (August 25, 1944 – July 6, 1999) was an American poet, [[novelist]], [[professor]], [[vocalist]], [[Jazz poetry|Jazz poet]], [[playwright]] and [[social critic]]. Many of her works tell stories about her life in the [[African-American]] community.
'''Sherley Anne Williams''' (August 25, 1944 – July 6, 1999) was an American poet, novelist, professor, vocalist, [[Jazz poetry|jazz poet]], playwright and [[social critic]]. Many of her works tell stories about her life in the [[African-American]] community.


==Biography==
==Biography==
Sherley Anne Williams was born in [[Bakersfield, California]], to Lena Leila Marie Siler and Jessee Winston Williams, who were migrant farm workers.<ref name="Amerman">{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/williams-sherley-anne-1944-1999 |title=Williams, Sherley Anne (1944–1999) |last=Amerman |first=Don |website=Encyclopedia.com|access-date=December 19, 2023}}</ref> She was the oldest of three sisters: Ruby, Lois, and Jesmarie. The family suffered from poverty and struggled to make ends meet most their lives. The kids would often have to help out with farming in order to get by.<ref name="Amerman" />
Sherley Anne Williams was born in [[Bakersfield]], [[California]], to Lena Leila Marie Siler and Jessee Winston Williams, who were migrant farm workers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/williams-sherley-anne-1944-1999|title=Williams, Sherley Anne (1944–1999) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> She was raised in the projects on the east side of Bakersfield and picked [[cotton]] and fruit with her parents and three sisters in the fields and orchards of [[Fresno, California|Fresno]], California. Williams was eight when her father died of [[tuberculosis]] and was 16 years old when her mother died from a heart attack.<ref name="latimes.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-07-tm-950-story.html|title=Understanding the Impossible : Poet and Professor Sherley Anne Williams, Who Once Picked Cotton in Fresno, Has Become a Surprise Best-Selling Novelist|date=1986-12-07|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> Williams graduated from Thomas Alva [[Edison High School (Fresno, California)|Edison High School]] in Fresno, in 1962. In 1966 she earned her [[bachelor's degree]] in English at what is now [[California State University, Fresno]], and she received her [[master's degree]] at [[Brown University]] in 1972. The following year (1973), Williams became a professor of African-American Literature at the [[University of California at San Diego]] (UCSD). Over the course of her career at UCSD, Williams served as chair of the literature department from 1977 to 1980, traveled to [[Ghana]] as a senior [[Fulbright]] scholar in 1984, and a served as a visiting professor at USC, Stanford, and Sweet Briar College.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2000/apr/13/cover-raised-not-hope-too-hard/|title=Sherley Williams – from Fresno to La Jolla|last=Phelgyal|first=Jangchup|last2=April 13|website=www.sandiegoreader.com|language=en|access-date=2019-11-04|last3=2000}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://literature.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/memoriam/swilliams.html|title=Sherley Williams|website=literature.ucsd.edu|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> In 1987, Williams was the Distinguished Professor of the Year by the UCSD Alumni Association.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/williams-sherley-anne|title=Williams, Sherley Anne {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> In 1998, Williams was awarded the African American Literature and Culture Society’s Stephen Henderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature and Poetry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aalcsblog.wordpress.com/awards-recipients/|title=Awards Recipients|date=December 21, 2016|website=African American Literature and Culture Society|language=en|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref>


She was raised in the projects on the east side of Bakersfield and picked [[cotton]] and fruit with her parents and three sisters in the fields and orchards of [[Fresno, California|Fresno]], California. Williams was eight when her father died of [[tuberculosis]] and was 16 years old when her mother died from a heart attack.<ref name="latimes.com">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-07-tm-950-story.html|title=Understanding the Impossible: Poet and Professor Sherley Anne Williams, Who Once Picked Cotton in Fresno, Has Become a Surprise Best-Selling Novelist|date=1986-12-07|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> Early on, Williams had been introduced to reading and fell in love with it, but that was quickly discouraged by her mother. She then went on to Fresno Middle school and had an eighth grade science teacher recognize her potential and encouraged her to take college prep courses.<ref name="Amerman" /> In 1968, Williams gave birth to her son John Malcom, becoming a single mother; following this her career began taking off and she moved to Providence Rhode, Island.<ref name="Amerman" />
Williams published two collections of poetry: ''The Peacock Poems'' (1975), which was nominated for a [[Pulitzer Prize]] and a [[National Book Award]], and ''Some One Sweet Angel Chile'' (1982), also nominated for a National Book Award. She won an [[Emmy Award]] for her television performance of poems from this collection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-11-me-54982-story.html|title=Sherley Williams; Migrant Worker Became Woman of Letters|date=1999-07-11|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> Her novel ''[[Dessa Rose]]'' (1986) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, received two laudatory reviews in ''[[The New York Times]]'' in 1986, was translated into several languages, and was adapted into a [[Dessa Rose (musical)|musical]] that premiered in 2005.<ref name="latimes.com"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-31-ca-10659-story.html|title=Films now going into production: ...|date=1988-07-31|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> ''Dessa Rose'' t was also excerpted in the anthology ''[[Daughters of Africa]]'', edited by [[Margaret Busby]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.librarything.com/work/271737|title=Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by…|editor-first=Margaret|editor-last=Busby|website=Library Thing|access-date=December 3, 2021}}</ref> Williams' one-woman play, ''Letters from a New England Negro'' (1992), was performed at the [[National Black Theater Festival]] in 1991 and at the Chicago International Theater Festival in 1992.<ref name="nytimesobit">{{cite news |title=Sherley Anne Williams, 54, Novelist, Poet and Professor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/14/books/sherley-anne-williams-54-novelist-poet-and-professor.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=21 November 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=14 July 1999 |page=A 21}}</ref>


Williams graduated from [[Edison High School (Fresno, California)|Edison High School]] in Fresno, in 1962. In 1966, she earned her [[bachelor's degree]] in English at what is now [[California State University, Fresno]], and she received her [[master's degree]] at [[Brown University]] in 1972. During her first year at Brown, in 1968, Williams received publicity for the first time, putting out a first person narrative of a short story "Tell Martha Not to Moan".<ref name="Amerman" /> The following year (1973), Williams became a professor of African-American Literature at the [[University of California at San Diego]] (UCSD). Over the course of her career at UCSD, Williams served as chair of the literature department from 1977 to 1980, traveled to [[Ghana]] as a senior [[Fulbright]] scholar in 1984, and a served as a visiting professor at USC, Stanford, and Sweet Briar College.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2000/apr/13/cover-raised-not-hope-too-hard/|title=Sherley Williams – from Fresno to La Jolla|last=Phelgyal|first=Jangchup|date=April 13, 2000 |newspaper=San Diego Reader|language=en|access-date=February 25, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://literature.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/memoriam/swilliams.html|title=Sherley Williams|website=literature.ucsd.edu|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> In 1987, Williams was the Distinguished Professor of the Year by the UCSD Alumni Association.<ref name="Marcus">{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/williams-sherley-anne|title=Williams, Sherley Anne |last=Marcus |first=Lisa |website=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=February 25, 2023}}</ref>
Williams wrote two picture books, ''Working Cotton'' (1992), which won the Caldecott Award of the [[American Library Association]] and a [[Coretta Scott King]] book award, and ''Girls Together'' (1997).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/williams-sherley-anne-1944-1999|title=Williams, Sherley Anne (1944–1999) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> For television, Williams wrote the programs ''Ours to Make'' (1973) and ''The Sherley Williams Special'' (1977).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/williams-sherley-anne-1944-1999/|title=Sherley Anne Williams (1944-1999) • BlackPast|last=Swanson|first=Abigail|date=2011-12-13|website=BlackPast|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> Williams published the groundbreaking critical study of African-American writing ''Give Birth to Brightness: A Thematic Study of Neo-Black Literature'' in 1972. She was also selected to write the introduction for [[Zora Neale Hurston]]'s 1991 edition of ''[[Their Eyes Were Watching God]]''.

In 1998, Williams was awarded the African American Literature and Culture Society's Stephen Henderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature and Poetry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aalcsblog.wordpress.com/awards-recipients/|title=Awards Recipients|date=December 21, 2016|website=African American Literature and Culture Society|language=en|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref>

Williams published two collections of poetry: ''The Peacock Poems'' (1975), which was nominated for a [[Pulitzer Prize]] and a [[National Book Award]], and ''Some One Sweet Angel Chile'' (1982), also nominated for a National Book Award. Following the publication of ''Peacock Poems'', Williams was firmly established as an important new voice in African American poetry.<ref name="Amerman" /> Upon publishing ''The Peacock Poems'', Wesleyan University misspelled her name in the first edition, having to contradict it later.<ref name="publicity">{{Cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2022-06-17 |title=Honoring Sherley Anne Williams |url=https://www.weslpress.org/blog/2022/06/17/honoring-sherley-anne-williams/ |access-date=2023-10-17 |website=Wesleyan University Press |language=en-US}}</ref> Her second poetry collection, ''Some Sweet Angel Chile,'' published in 1982, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and received praise in the ''New York Times'', having been translated to several languages and later adopted into a musical.<ref name="publicity"/> She won an [[Emmy Award]] for her television performance of poems from this collection.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-11-me-54982-story.html|title=Sherley Williams; Migrant Worker Became Woman of Letters|date=1999-07-11|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> Her novel ''[[Dessa Rose]]'' (1986) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, received two laudatory reviews in ''[[The New York Times]]'' in 1986, called "artistically brilliant, emotionally affecting, and totally unforgettable" by David Bradley<ref name="Amerman" /> was translated into several languages, and was adapted into a [[Dessa Rose (musical)|musical]] that premiered in 2005.<ref name="latimes.com"/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-31-ca-10659-story.html|title=Films now going into production: ...|date=1988-07-31|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> ''Dessa Rose'' was also excerpted in the anthology ''[[Daughters of Africa]]'', edited by [[Margaret Busby]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.librarything.com/work/271737|title=Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by…|editor-first=Margaret|editor-last=Busby|via=Library Thing|access-date=December 3, 2021}}</ref> Williams' one-woman play, ''Letters from a New England Negro'' (1992), was performed at the [[National Black Theater Festival]] in 1991 and at the Chicago International Theater Festival in 1992.<ref name="nytimesobit">{{cite news |title=Sherley Anne Williams, 54, Novelist, Poet and Professor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/14/books/sherley-anne-williams-54-novelist-poet-and-professor.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=21 November 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=14 July 1999 |page=A 21}}</ref>

Williams wrote two picture books, ''Working Cotton'' (1992), which won the Caldecott Award of the [[American Library Association]] and a [[Coretta Scott King]] book award, and ''Girls Together'' (1997).<ref name="Amerman" /> For television, Williams wrote the programs ''Ours to Make'' (1973) and ''The Sherley Williams Special'' (1977).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/williams-sherley-anne-1944-1999/|title=Sherley Anne Williams (1944-1999)|last=Swanson|first=Abigail|date=2011-12-13|website=BlackPast|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> Williams published the groundbreaking critical study of African-American writing ''Give Birth to Brightness: A Thematic Study of Neo-Black Literature'' in 1972. She was also selected to write the introduction for [[Zora Neale Hurston]]'s 1991 edition of ''[[Their Eyes Were Watching God]]''.


Williams was also known for her music, which mainly consisted of [[blues]] and [[jazz poetry]]. In 1982 Williams wrote, recorded, and [[self-published]] her debut [[Single (music)|single]] titled "Some One Sweet Angel Chile", which was re-released by Blues Economique Records in 1984. The music for "Some One Sweet Angel Chile" was composed by [[Bertram Turetzky]].
Williams was also known for her music, which mainly consisted of [[blues]] and [[jazz poetry]]. In 1982 Williams wrote, recorded, and [[self-published]] her debut [[Single (music)|single]] titled "Some One Sweet Angel Chile", which was re-released by Blues Economique Records in 1984. The music for "Some One Sweet Angel Chile" was composed by [[Bertram Turetzky]].
Line 34: Line 40:
In the early 1990s Williams reconnected with Bertram Turetzky for some [[recording sessions]] for his album ''Compositions And Improvisations'', which also featured various jazz and blues artists including [[Vinny Golia]], [[Jerome Rothenberg]], [[Quincy Troupe]], and Nancy Turetzky. Williams is credited as a [[vocalist]] for her contributions to Turetzky's album. Three of the songs featured on the album were previously-written poems by Williams recorded in musical format: "One-Sided Bed Blues", "Big Red And His Brother", and "The Wishon Line".<ref>[http://www.discogs.com/artist/2395339-Sherley-Anne-Williams " Sherley Anne Williams - Discography" Sherley Anne Williams (1993). Discogs p.1] www.discogs.com. Retrieved 25-01-2016</ref><ref>[http://www.discogs.com/Bertram-Turetzky-Compositions-And-Improvisations/release/3077371 " Bertram Turetzky – Compositions And Improvisations Tracklisting" Bertram Turetzky(1993). Discogs p.1] www.discogs.com. Retrieved January 25, 2016.</ref> The album was recorded at Studio 101 in [[Solana Beach, California]], during the summer of 1992, and released by [[Nine Winds]] Records in 1993.
In the early 1990s Williams reconnected with Bertram Turetzky for some [[recording sessions]] for his album ''Compositions And Improvisations'', which also featured various jazz and blues artists including [[Vinny Golia]], [[Jerome Rothenberg]], [[Quincy Troupe]], and Nancy Turetzky. Williams is credited as a [[vocalist]] for her contributions to Turetzky's album. Three of the songs featured on the album were previously-written poems by Williams recorded in musical format: "One-Sided Bed Blues", "Big Red And His Brother", and "The Wishon Line".<ref>[http://www.discogs.com/artist/2395339-Sherley-Anne-Williams " Sherley Anne Williams - Discography" Sherley Anne Williams (1993). Discogs p.1] www.discogs.com. Retrieved 25-01-2016</ref><ref>[http://www.discogs.com/Bertram-Turetzky-Compositions-And-Improvisations/release/3077371 " Bertram Turetzky – Compositions And Improvisations Tracklisting" Bertram Turetzky(1993). Discogs p.1] www.discogs.com. Retrieved January 25, 2016.</ref> The album was recorded at Studio 101 in [[Solana Beach, California]], during the summer of 1992, and released by [[Nine Winds]] Records in 1993.


Sherley Anne Williams died of cancer on July 6, 1999, in San Diego, at the age of 54.<ref name="nytimesobit"/>
Williams died of cancer on July 6, 1999, in San Diego, at the age of 54.<ref name="nytimesobit"/>


==Bibliography==
==Published works==


===Fiction===
===Fiction===
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===Poetry===
===Poetry===
* ''The Peacock Poems'' (1975)
* ''The Peacock Poems'' (1975) (as Shirley Williams)
* ''Some One Sweet Angel Chile'' (1982)
* ''Some One Sweet Angel Chile'' (1982)


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*"The Lion's History: The Ghetto Writes B(l)ack." ''Soundings'' 76. 2–3 (1993): 248.
*"The Lion's History: The Ghetto Writes B(l)ack." ''Soundings'' 76. 2–3 (1993): 248.
*"Some Implications of [[Womanism|Womanist]] Theory." In Angelyn Mitchell, ed, ''Within the Circle: An Anthology of African American Literary Criticism from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present.'' Durham: Duke University Press, 1994: 515–521.
*"Some Implications of [[Womanism|Womanist]] Theory." In Angelyn Mitchell, ed, ''Within the Circle: An Anthology of African American Literary Criticism from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present.'' Durham: Duke University Press, 1994: 515–521.

==Further reading==
* Davis, Mary Kemp. "Everybody Knows Her Name: The Recovery of the Past in Sherley Anne Williams's ''Dessa Rose''", ''[[Callaloo (journal)|Callaloo]]'' 12.3 (Summer 1989), pp.&nbsp;544–558.
* Draper, James P. "Sherley Anne Williams", ''Black Literature Criticism: Excerpts from Criticism of the Most Significant Works of Black Authors Over the Past 200 Years'', Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992, pp.&nbsp;1950–1961.
*Nagel, Carol De Kane. "Sherley Anne Williams", ''African American Biography''. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994, pp.&nbsp;787–789.
*Tate, Claudia. “Sherley Anne Williams.” In ''Black Women Writers at Work''. New York: Continuum, 1983, pp.&nbsp;205–213.


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last=Davis |first=Mary Kemp |date=Summer 1989 |title=Everybody Knows Her Name: The Recovery of the Past in Sherley Anne Williams's 'Dessa Rose' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2931302 |journal=[[Callaloo (journal)|Callaloo]] |issue=40 |pages=544–558 |doi=10.2307/2931302 |jstor=2931302 |access-date=February 27, 2023}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Draper |editor-first=James P. |date=1992 |chapter=Sherley Anne Williams, 1944– |title=Black Literature Criticism: Excerpts from Criticism of the Most Significant Works of Black Authors Over the Past 200 Years |volume=3 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/blackliteraturec03nlit/page/1950/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |location=Detroit, Michigan |publisher=Gale Research |pages=1950–1961 |isbn=9780810379329 |oclc=24428989}}
* {{cite book |last=Nagel |first=Carol De Kane |date=1994 |title=African American Biography |volume=4 |chapter=Sherley Anne Williams |location=Detroit, Michigan |publisher=U X L |pages=787–789 |isbn=9780810392380 |oclc=29563892}}
* {{cite book |last=Tate |first=Claudia |author-link=Claudia Tate |date=1983 |title=Black Women Writers at Work |chapter=Sherley Anne Williams |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/blackwomenwriter00tate/page/205/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Continuum |pages=205–213 |isbn=9780826402325 |oclc=9112096}}


==External links==
==External links==
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[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in California]]
[[Category:African-American poets]]
[[Category:African-American poets]]
[[Category:American women poets]]
[[Category:American women poets]]
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[[Category:Brown University alumni]]
[[Category:Brown University alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, San Diego faculty]]
[[Category:University of California, San Diego faculty]]
[[Category:Social critics]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Bakersfield, California]]
[[Category:Writers from Bakersfield, California]]
[[Category:Poets from California]]
[[Category:Poets from California]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:African-American women writers]]
[[Category:People from Bakersfield, California]]
[[Category:People from Bakersfield, California]]
[[Category:Novelists from California]]
[[Category:Novelists from California]]
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[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:African-American novelists]]
[[Category:African-American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American people]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American writers]]

Latest revision as of 12:48, 19 October 2024

Sherley Anne Williams
Born(1944-08-25)August 25, 1944
Bakersfield, California, U.S.
DiedJuly 6, 1999(1999-07-06) (aged 54)
San Diego, California, U.S.
OccupationPoet, novelist, professor, vocalist, playwright and social critic
Notable worksDessa Rose (1986); Working Cotton (1992)

Sherley Anne Williams (August 25, 1944 – July 6, 1999) was an American poet, novelist, professor, vocalist, jazz poet, playwright and social critic. Many of her works tell stories about her life in the African-American community.

Biography

[edit]

Sherley Anne Williams was born in Bakersfield, California, to Lena Leila Marie Siler and Jessee Winston Williams, who were migrant farm workers.[1] She was the oldest of three sisters: Ruby, Lois, and Jesmarie. The family suffered from poverty and struggled to make ends meet most their lives. The kids would often have to help out with farming in order to get by.[1]

She was raised in the projects on the east side of Bakersfield and picked cotton and fruit with her parents and three sisters in the fields and orchards of Fresno, California. Williams was eight when her father died of tuberculosis and was 16 years old when her mother died from a heart attack.[2] Early on, Williams had been introduced to reading and fell in love with it, but that was quickly discouraged by her mother. She then went on to Fresno Middle school and had an eighth grade science teacher recognize her potential and encouraged her to take college prep courses.[1] In 1968, Williams gave birth to her son John Malcom, becoming a single mother; following this her career began taking off and she moved to Providence Rhode, Island.[1]

Williams graduated from Edison High School in Fresno, in 1962. In 1966, she earned her bachelor's degree in English at what is now California State University, Fresno, and she received her master's degree at Brown University in 1972. During her first year at Brown, in 1968, Williams received publicity for the first time, putting out a first person narrative of a short story "Tell Martha Not to Moan".[1] The following year (1973), Williams became a professor of African-American Literature at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). Over the course of her career at UCSD, Williams served as chair of the literature department from 1977 to 1980, traveled to Ghana as a senior Fulbright scholar in 1984, and a served as a visiting professor at USC, Stanford, and Sweet Briar College.[3][4] In 1987, Williams was the Distinguished Professor of the Year by the UCSD Alumni Association.[5]

In 1998, Williams was awarded the African American Literature and Culture Society's Stephen Henderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature and Poetry.[6]

Williams published two collections of poetry: The Peacock Poems (1975), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and Some One Sweet Angel Chile (1982), also nominated for a National Book Award. Following the publication of Peacock Poems, Williams was firmly established as an important new voice in African American poetry.[1] Upon publishing The Peacock Poems, Wesleyan University misspelled her name in the first edition, having to contradict it later.[7] Her second poetry collection, Some Sweet Angel Chile, published in 1982, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and received praise in the New York Times, having been translated to several languages and later adopted into a musical.[7] She won an Emmy Award for her television performance of poems from this collection.[8] Her novel Dessa Rose (1986) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, received two laudatory reviews in The New York Times in 1986, called "artistically brilliant, emotionally affecting, and totally unforgettable" by David Bradley[1] was translated into several languages, and was adapted into a musical that premiered in 2005.[2][9] Dessa Rose was also excerpted in the anthology Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[10] Williams' one-woman play, Letters from a New England Negro (1992), was performed at the National Black Theater Festival in 1991 and at the Chicago International Theater Festival in 1992.[11]

Williams wrote two picture books, Working Cotton (1992), which won the Caldecott Award of the American Library Association and a Coretta Scott King book award, and Girls Together (1997).[1] For television, Williams wrote the programs Ours to Make (1973) and The Sherley Williams Special (1977).[12] Williams published the groundbreaking critical study of African-American writing Give Birth to Brightness: A Thematic Study of Neo-Black Literature in 1972. She was also selected to write the introduction for Zora Neale Hurston's 1991 edition of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Williams was also known for her music, which mainly consisted of blues and jazz poetry. In 1982 Williams wrote, recorded, and self-published her debut single titled "Some One Sweet Angel Chile", which was re-released by Blues Economique Records in 1984. The music for "Some One Sweet Angel Chile" was composed by Bertram Turetzky.

In the early 1990s Williams reconnected with Bertram Turetzky for some recording sessions for his album Compositions And Improvisations, which also featured various jazz and blues artists including Vinny Golia, Jerome Rothenberg, Quincy Troupe, and Nancy Turetzky. Williams is credited as a vocalist for her contributions to Turetzky's album. Three of the songs featured on the album were previously-written poems by Williams recorded in musical format: "One-Sided Bed Blues", "Big Red And His Brother", and "The Wishon Line".[13][14] The album was recorded at Studio 101 in Solana Beach, California, during the summer of 1992, and released by Nine Winds Records in 1993.

Williams died of cancer on July 6, 1999, in San Diego, at the age of 54.[11]

Published works

[edit]

Fiction

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Poetry

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  • The Peacock Poems (1975) (as Shirley Williams)
  • Some One Sweet Angel Chile (1982)

Non-fiction

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  • Giving Birth to Brightness: A Thematic Study in Neo-Black Literature (1972)
  • "Meditations on History." In Mary Helen Washington, ed, Midnight Birds: Stories by Contemporary Black women Writers. New York: Anchor Books, 1980, 195–248.
  • "Two Words on Music: Black Community." In Gina Dent, ed, Black Popular Culture: A Project by Michele Wallace. Seattle, WA: Bay Press, 1992, 164–72.
  • "The Blues Roots of Contemporary Afro-American Poetry." In Dexter Fisher and Robert B. Stepto, eds, Afro-American Literature: The Reconstruction of Instruction. New York: Modern Language Association, 1978, 72–87.
  • "Cultural and Interpersonal Aspects of Black Male/Female Relationships: Comment on the Curb." Black Scholar, 10, 1979: 49–57.
  • "The Lion's History: The Ghetto Writes B(l)ack." Soundings 76. 2–3 (1993): 248.
  • "Some Implications of Womanist Theory." In Angelyn Mitchell, ed, Within the Circle: An Anthology of African American Literary Criticism from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present. Durham: Duke University Press, 1994: 515–521.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Amerman, Don. "Williams, Sherley Anne (1944–1999)". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Understanding the Impossible: Poet and Professor Sherley Anne Williams, Who Once Picked Cotton in Fresno, Has Become a Surprise Best-Selling Novelist". Los Angeles Times. December 7, 1986. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  3. ^ Phelgyal, Jangchup (April 13, 2000). "Sherley Williams – from Fresno to La Jolla". San Diego Reader. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  4. ^ "Sherley Williams". literature.ucsd.edu. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  5. ^ Marcus, Lisa. "Williams, Sherley Anne". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  6. ^ "Awards Recipients". African American Literature and Culture Society. December 21, 2016. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Honoring Sherley Anne Williams". Wesleyan University Press. June 17, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  8. ^ "Sherley Williams; Migrant Worker Became Woman of Letters". Los Angeles Times. July 11, 1999. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  9. ^ "Films now going into production: ..." Los Angeles Times. July 31, 1988. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  10. ^ Busby, Margaret (ed.). Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by…. Retrieved December 3, 2021 – via Library Thing.
  11. ^ a b "Sherley Anne Williams, 54, Novelist, Poet and Professor". The New York Times. July 14, 1999. p. A 21. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  12. ^ Swanson, Abigail (December 13, 2011). "Sherley Anne Williams (1944-1999)". BlackPast. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  13. ^ " Sherley Anne Williams - Discography" Sherley Anne Williams (1993). Discogs p.1 www.discogs.com. Retrieved 25-01-2016
  14. ^ " Bertram Turetzky – Compositions And Improvisations Tracklisting" Bertram Turetzky(1993). Discogs p.1 www.discogs.com. Retrieved January 25, 2016.

Further reading

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