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Ian Williams’ previous books are Not Anyone’s Anything (2011) and You Know Who You Are (2010). He is the winner of the 2011 Danuta Gleed Literary Award for the best first English-language collection of short fiction, a finalist for the ReLit Prize for poetry, and was named as one of ten Canadian writers to watch by CBC. Williams completed his Ph.D. in English at the University of Toronto and works as an English professor. Williams has held fellowships or residencies from Vermont Studio Center, Cave Canem, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and Palazzo Rinaldi in Italy. He was also a scholar at the National Humanities Center Summer Institute for Literary Study. His writing has appeared in FiddleheadArcContemporary Verse 2RattlejubilatConfrontationThe Antigonish ReviewGargoyleFolioPebble Lake ReviewCallalooDescant, and Matrix Magazine. He currently lives in Brampton, Ontario.

Personals 2013 Shortlist

Freehand Books/Broadview Press, Canada

Judges’ Citation

Mr. Williams is a musician. His words sing like brooks and streams through a virgin forest, laugh like waterfalls, startle and delight along the way with hidden eddies and boils.

The moment I opened Personals, I was smitten. Mr. Williams is a musician. His words sing like brooks and streams through a virgin forest, laugh like waterfalls, startle and delight along the way with hidden eddies and boils. Mr. Williams is also an artist. His images fly like kites in the wind, with whistling somersaults. He blends personal emotion with historical tension, tradition and modernity, ordinary and magical so seamlessly. When he pulls the strings of contradictions: light and heavy, hilarious and serious, I can’t help but dance like a happy puppet in the masterful hands. I’m so happy to find another shining star above Canada’s poetry horizon!