Erica L. Williams - Writer

Required Reading: Colson Whitehead's Next Harlem-Centered Novel and Other Great Books To Read This July From a new HBCU guidebook to the latest Colson Whitehead novel, here are great books to read this July from Black authors.

https://brevity.wordpress.com/2022/04/22/against-the-sh*tty-first-draft/

Against the Sh*tty First Draft By Gabriela Denise Frank Can we strike sh*tty first draft from our vocabulary? No wants to do a sh*tty job at anything. Writing time is precious and we know words matter, yet we erode our efforts w…

https://open.substack.com/pub/1000wordsofsummer/p/start-fresh?r=se8j&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Start Fresh Hi friends. I’m getting some work done on the house, and when it’s completed some other things will shift in other rooms, so I’ve started moving furniture from room to room in my head. Wandering around thinking about what each room should be, what it is meant to accomplish, how I want to use i...

Happy 79th Birthday to Alice Malsenior Tallulah Kate Walker! Born on this day, February 9th, in 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia USA, Alice Walker would go on to become the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1982 for "The Color Purple" and over 15 awards for both her work as a writer and activist. Join us in wishing the effervescent Alice Walker a happy birthday!



📸: This portrait of a young Alice Walker is featured in the Alice Walker archive at Emory University's Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library and is featured on the cover of her latest release "Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker", edited by Valerie Boyd.

Honored to be included…

Allow me to introduce myself 👩🏽‍💻👩🏾‍💻✍🏾✍🏾

Erica L. Williams Erica L. Williams work has appeared in The Rumpus, Blood Orange Review, Necessary Fiction, and elsewhere.

T’Kira Madden dropping gems

https://themillions.com/2022/12/a-year-in-reading-deesha-philyaw.html?fbclid=IwAR1Beo4Qg3GniGM31m_LuO54SLa6oFlmfYs9uJ8-pOK40IeACxLWYI3MQ74

A Year in Reading: Deesha Philyaw - The Millions Deesha Philyaw reflects on 2022 through the books she read.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/05/the-work-you-do-the-person-you-are

The Work You Do, the Person You Are The pleasure of being necessary to my parents was profound. I was not like the children in folktales: burdensome mouths to feed.

Congratulations to our very own who is currently in London as a Judge for the AKO Caine Prize shortlist 2022.
Also on the 2022 judging panel with Letlhogonolo were Okey Ndibe (Chair), Elisa Diallo, Àsìkò Okelarin, and Angela Wachuka.

Please read their interview here:

https://africainwords.com/2022/07/15/qas-letlhogonolo-mokgoroane-judge-ako-caine-prize-shortlist-2022/

Congratulations ! 🎉🎉🎉

Thanks to Flash Fiction Magazine for publishing my flash fiction story ‘Promposal.’

Promposal - Flash Fiction Magazine Today, stupid boys ask stupid girls to eleventh-grade junior prom. Each year the promposals get more outlandish. Last year Damien Wade had his pregnant mother come to class and pretend to go into labor. She stretched out on the table, and Ms.Vicknair, the teacher who was in on it, covered her with a...

Word Camp 2022 Signup Form Please click the link to complete this form.

The Interview Series | 1-Week Critique

Alice Walker Has ‘No Regrets’ Walker has grappled with some of the thorniest issues of 20th-century America. She’s also taken troubling stances. She has now opened up and shared her diaries, giving readers a window into her life.

Issue 2.5 of Cutleaf is live!

In this issue, Zeina Azzam reveals an emigrant’s special vocabulary in two poems beginning with “A Grammar for Fleeing.”

April Darcy writes of spending her twenties in slow motion, and all the ways she learned to move again, in “The Anatomy of Desire.”

And, in “Finding Funerals,” Erica Williams shares the story of a bored, though not boring, human resources specialist who completes all of her work in the morning so she can tirelessly search for strangers’ funerals to observe online in the afternoon.

Find it all at bit.ly/3vA3cIZ.

Warsan Shire talks to Bernardine Evaristo about becoming a superstar poet: ‘Beyoncé sent flowers when my children were born’ One is a breakout poet, the other is a Booker-winning champion of Black talent. They swap notes on class, impostor syndrome and the day pop’s biggest star came knocking

Bernardine Evaristo on Lessons Learned From Toni Morrison As soon as I read The Bluest Eye in 1981, I was hooked on Toni Morrison’s writing. How I loved her lush prose in this, her first novel, and the quietly intense dramatic storytelling style that cent…

https://electricliterature.com/7-new-and-forthcoming-books-by-writers-over-60/

7 New and Forthcoming Books by Writers Over 60 - Electric Literature The literary world is obsessed with youth and genius, but what about the authors who are publishing in their golden years?

Some writing wisdom from Lan Samantha Chang (who is also wise enough not to be on here), reposted from the also wise . Thanks Tania!

New blog post:

https://ericalwilliams.com/rise-from-the-ashes-happy-new-year/

Rise from the Ashes: Happy New Year - Erica L. Williams I never took an interest in gardening until after my father died in January of 2021. He was an avid outdoors person, and no matter the weather, he could be found outside, “fiddling around” in the yard. Before my interest, no plant in my possession had ever lived a respectable life. It didn’....

Nikki Giovanni Has Made Peace With Her Hate “If God says, ‘Nikki, I gotta write this check on you because you hate,’ I would say, ‘I understand, because I do hate.’”

5 Black Women Authors We’re Supporting This Year (and You Should Too) - 21Ninety Black women authors have always been the thread that is crucial to the literary landscape. Between the critical commentary from Zora Neale Hurston and thought-provoking fictional tales from icon Toni Morrison, the foundation Black women authors have laid marks a monumental chapter in our history as....

Thank you to Idle Ink for publishing my flash fiction story 'The Peacock Lady.' You can read it at the link below. https://idleink.org/2021/12/04/the-peacock-lady-by-erica-l-williams/

We had a great time last night talking about character and plots in our Writer's Pro Pop-Up Workshop. If you're a writer, next week is one you won't want to miss! We're talking about Tools every author can use. We have some new technology, tips, insight, etc to help writers so this is one you won't want to miss. www.WritersProWorkshops.com

Abandoned Walmart is Now America’s Largest 1-Floor Library A sprawling abandoned Walmart in McAllen, Texas has been transformed into the nation’s largest public library, with self-check-out kiosks and an art gallery.

Alabama’s Next Poet Laureate Writes Searingly About Race Ashley M. Jones, whose latest collection is called “Reparations Now!,” is unflinching in her criticism of those in power and the myriad inequalities in American life.