Miller Williams

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Miller Williams (born April 8, 1930) is an American contemporary poet, as well as a translator and editor. He has authored over twenty-five books and won several awards for his poetry. His accomplishments have been chronicled in Arkansas Biography. However, he is perhaps best known for reading a poem at President Clinton's 1997 inauguration.

Williams was born in Hoxie, Arkansas. He was educated in Arkansas, earning his bachelor's degree in biology from Arkansas State University, before completing a M.S. at the University of Arkansas in 1952. He taught in several universities in various capacities, first as a professor of biology and then of English literature. He is currently a professor emeritus of literature at the University of Arkansas. His best-known poem is "The Shrinking Lonesome Sestina," which displays the complicated form beautifully.

Miller received the 1963-64 Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship, and he won the 1991 Poets' Prize for his collection Living on the Surface.

He is the father of Lucinda Williams, a three-time Grammy Award winning country music, folk, and rock singer, named "America's best songwriter" by TIME magazine in 2002.

[edit] Books

• "I Made A Poopie: A Grade School Recollection", 1936
• A Circle of Stone, 1965
• So Long at the Fair, 1968
• Halfway from Hoxie, 1973
• Why God Permits Evil, 1977, Louisiana State University Press
• The Boys on Their Bony Mules, 1983, Louisiana State University Press
• Patterns of Poetry (book)|Patterns of Poetry, 1986, Louisiana State University Press
• Living on the Surface, 1989
• Adjusting to the Light, 1992, University of Missouri Press
• Points of Departure, 1994
• The Ways We Touch: Poems, 1997, University of Illinois Press
• Some Jazz a While: Collected Poems, 1999, University of Illinois Press, ISBN 978-0252067747
• Making a Poem: Some Thoughts About Poetry and the People Who Write It, 2006, Louisiana State University Press, ISBN 978-0807131329

[edit] Sources

• Farnsworth, Elizabeth. Jan. 16, 1996. Interview with Miller Williams. American Poetry/PBS Online Newshour. [1]
• Rosenthal, Harry. Jan 20, 1997. "Poet Addresses Inaugural Event." Washington Post. [2]
• "Miller Williams." 2003. Entry in Contemporary Authors Online. Gale.

[edit] Further reading

• Burns, Michael (ed.) 1991. Miller Williams and the Poetry of the Particular. Columbia, Mo: University of Missouri Press.

• Correspondence and other materials. Miller Williams Collection, 1950-1995. Fayetteville, Ar: University of Arkansas Libraries, Special Collections Division, Manuscript Collection 1387. http://libinfo.uark.edu/specialcollections/findingaids/todd.html