Sherley Anne Williams facts for kids

Sherley Anne Williams (born August 25, 1944 – died July 6, 1999) was a talented American writer, poet, and professor. She also sang and wrote plays! Many of her stories and poems shared experiences from the African-American community. She was known for telling important stories about her life and the lives of others.

Biography

Early Life and Education

Sherley Anne Williams was born in Bakersfield, California. Her parents, Lena Leila Marie Siler and Jessee Winston Williams, worked as migrant farm workers. This meant they traveled to different places to pick crops.

She grew up in Bakersfield and helped her family pick cotton and fruit in fields near Fresno. Sherley faced challenges early in life. Her father passed away when she was eight, and her mother died when she was sixteen.

Despite these difficulties, Sherley finished Edison High School in Fresno in 1962. She then went on to college. In 1966, she earned her first degree in English from what is now California State University, Fresno. Later, in 1972, she received her master's degree from Brown University.

Teaching and Achievements

In 1973, Sherley Anne Williams became a professor at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). She taught African-American Literature, sharing important stories and ideas with her students.

During her time at UCSD, she was the head of the literature department from 1977 to 1980. She also traveled to Ghana in 1984 as a special scholar. She was even a visiting professor at other universities like USC and Stanford. In 1987, she was named the Distinguished Professor of the Year by the UCSD Alumni Association.

In 1998, Sherley Anne Williams received the Stephen Henderson Award. This award recognized her amazing work in literature and poetry.

Literary Works

Sherley Anne Williams wrote many different kinds of books. She published two collections of poetry. The Peacock Poems (1975) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. Her second collection, Some One Sweet Angel Chile (1982), was also nominated for a National Book Award. She even won an Emmy Award for performing poems from this collection on television!

Her novel Dessa Rose (1986) was a very important book. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and received great reviews. This book was translated into many languages and was even turned into a musical in 2005.

Williams also wrote plays. Her one-woman play, Letters from a New England Negro (1992), was performed at big festivals. She also wrote two picture books for younger readers: Working Cotton (1992) and Girls Together (1997). Working Cotton won the Caldecott Award and a Coretta Scott King book award.

For television, she wrote programs like Ours to Make (1973) and The Sherley Williams Special (1977). She also wrote a groundbreaking study about African-American writing called Give Birth to Brightness: A Thematic Study of Neo-Black Literature in 1972.

Music and Other Works

Sherley Anne Williams was also known for her music. She often combined her poetry with blues and jazz poetry. In 1982, she wrote and recorded her first song, "Some One Sweet Angel Chile." The music for this song was created by Bertram Turetzky.

In the early 1990s, she worked with Bertram Turetzky again. She sang on his album Compositions And Improvisations. Three of the songs on the album were poems she had written, now set to music. These songs included "One-Sided Bed Blues" and "The Wishon Line."

Sherley Anne Williams passed away from cancer on July 6, 1999, in San Diego. She was 54 years old. Her work continues to inspire readers and writers today.