Merrie Joy Williams

Merrie Joy Williams is a poet, novelist and editor. She was shortlisted for the 2020 Bridport Poetry Prize, and is a winner of The Poetry Archive’s ‘Wordview 2020’ competition, permanently featured on their website. She is the recipient of a London Writers Award (2018), and Arts Council England awards for both poetry and fiction.

Merrie is passionate about collaborations with other writers and artists, as well as residencies and commissions, which she feels keep her writing practice fresh and evolving. She was a poet-in-residence with MMU Special Collections and Manchester Poetry Library, who are currently releasing an illustrated broadside of one of her poems.

She was commissioned by Historical England, in partnership with Spread the Word, to research and write one of their High Street Tales (Woolwich). The short story, ‘In Between Days’ can be downloaded on Historical England’s website as part of the ‘High Street Tales’ Ebook, or listened to as a podcast.

Her adult teaching credits include workshops for Spread the Word, Historic England, one-to-one mentoring and workshops for debut novelists as part of the fiction project, ‘WRITTEN’. She has taught English secondary (11-18).

Merrie has read or discussed her work in various places, including The Southbank Festival, The Cardiff Poetry Festival, and BBC Radio. Poems been published in Poetry Wales, The Interpreter’s House, The Good Journal, and elsewhere.

Her debut collection is ‘Open Windows’ (Waterloo Press, 2019). Magma Poetry wrote: ‘She is clearly good at her craft. Her writing is assured, driven by sonorous language… generous and open-hearted poems’.

“I love seeing students grow in confidence as they see what they are capable of. With a range of collaboration and independent exploration, workshops can be both safe and dynamic.”