ABOUT
photo by Klaus Meyer
Derek JG Williams is an American writer, scholar, teacher, & editor. His debut collections of poems, Reading Water, was selected by Eduardo Corral as the winner of the 2023 Lightscatter Press Prize. He's also the author of the nonfiction chapbook, Poetry Is a Disease (Greying Ghost, 2022). Derek holds a doctorate in English & Creative Writing from Ohio University, & an MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where he won the Brian Rattigan & Mary Doyle Curran Creative Scholarships. He is a Blacksmith House Emerging Writer. His poem, "These Kingdoms of Ours" was a finalist for RHINO Magazine's Editors Prize. Brenda Shaughnessy selected his poem “Ode to the Tongue” for inclusion in the Best New Poets anthology. His writing has appeared on Boston's MBTA trains as a part of the city's Poetry on the T program. Derek teaches writing courses online. He also works with individual clients to help them establish & reach their creative goals, & he is an accomplished academic language editor & technical writer who has worked with scholars & researchers at numerous institutions & universities. He lives in Zurich with his family.