Sherley Anne Williams Biography

African-American can novelist, poet, and critic, born in Bakersfield, California, educated in Fresno and at the universities of California, Howard, and Brown. An expert in African-American literature, which she taught in several universities, Williams's first published book was a work of academic literary criticism, Give Birth to Brightness: A Thematic Study of Neo-Black Literature (1972). She is best known for the novel Dessa Rose (1986). In its depiction of a woman slave who is condemned to death for her part in an uprising, the novel in some ways covers the same psychological ground as Toni Morrison's Beloved, which appeared the following year. Dessa Rose is set during 1829–30 and is similarly inspired by historical events. Among her collections of verse are The Peacock Poems (1975) and Someone Sweet Angel Chile (1982), the latter inspired by the life of Bessie Smith.