Sherley anne williams biography

  • Sherley Anne Williams (August 25, 1944 – July 6, 1999) was an.
  • Sherley Anne Williams was an American poet, novelist, professor, vocalist, jazz poet, playwright and social critic.
  • Sherley Anne Williams was born in 1944 and grew up in Fresno, California.

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    Williams, Sherley Anne (1944–1999)

    African-American poet, novelist, playwright, educator, and literary critic . Born in Bakersfield, California, on August 25, 1944; died of cancer in San Diego, California, on July 6, 1999; daughter of Jessee Winson Williams and Lelia Marie (Siler) Williams; attended junior and senior high school in Fresno, California; California State University at Fresno, B.A., 1966; spent one year in graduate studies at Howard University; Brown University, M.A., 1972; children: John Malcolm (b. 1968).

    Selected writings:

    Give Birth to Brightness: A Thematic Study in Neo-Black Literature (1972); The Peacock Poems (1975); Some One Sweet Angel Chile (1982); Dessa Rose (1986); Letter from a New England Negro (play, 1991); Working Cotton (1992); Girls tillsammans (1997).

    Sherley Anne Williams was born in 1944 in Bakersfield, California, the daughter of Jessee Winson Williams and Lelia Siler Williams , migrant farm workers who struggled to man ends

  • sherley anne williams biography

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    Sherley Anne Williams

    Biography of Sherley Anne Williams

    Sherley Anne Williams was a poet, novelist, professor, and social critic. Many of her works tell stories about her life in the African-American community.

    Williams was born in Bakersfield, California. When she was little her family picked cotton in order to get money. At the age of eight her father died of tuberculosis and when she was sixteen her mother died. She graduated from Thomas Alva Edison High School in Fresno California in 1962. In 1966 she earned her bachelor’s degree in English at what is now California State University at Fresno and she received her master’s degree at Brown University in 1972. The following year (1973) she became a professor of English Literature at the University of California at San Diego. She traveled to Ghana under a 1984 Fulbright grant.[1] Her works include collections of poetry such as The Peacock Poems (1975), the novel Dessa Rose (1986), and two picture books. She also publ

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    SHERLEY ANNE WILLIAMS

    Sherley Anne Williams and Deborah McDowell share their views of the impact of black music, especially rap, on contemporary poetry.

    Selected Bibliography

    • Dessa Rose: A Riveting Story of the South During Slavery. NY: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1986.
    • Girls Together. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1999.
    • Give Birth to Brightness: A Thematic Study in Neo-Black Literature. New York: Dial Press, 1972.
    • The Peacock Poems. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1975.
    • Someone Sweet Angel Chile. New York: Morrow, 1982.

    Discussion Questions

    1. What is Williams saying about Black community in "The Black Back-Up"? Why did she choose the refrain for the poem? Can you identify musical elements in the poem?

    2. How does she differentiate poetry and fiction? Which is more difficult to write and why?

    3. What is her creative process?

    4. What is her opinion of