Essays, Reviews, and Interviews
Rappahannock Review Contributor Spotlight: Interview with
Katherine Williams
“Penumbra, an
Ekphrastic Collaboration”
—an essay by Katherine Williams
in Ekphrastic Review
Tongues Aflame Poetry Series
Contemporary Charleston 2010: Influence
Sundown Poetry with
Katherine Williams
NEXT Magazine [pdf]
Rappahannock Review Contributor Spotlight: Interview with
Katherine Williams
“Penumbra, an
Ekphrastic Collaboration”
—an essay by Katherine Williams
in Ekphrastic Review
Tongues Aflame Poetry Series
Contemporary Charleston 2010: Influence
Sundown Poetry with
Katherine Williams
NEXT Magazine [pdf]
About Katherine Williams
Katherine was born into the Navy of white Southern parents and spent her teens and twenties in Charleston SC, where she hung on to literature for dear life. She majored in French at the College of Charleston, learned to surf, screen T-shirts and movies, play the cello, and do science. In 1996 she moved to Los Angeles, where she worked in biomedical research at UCLA, surfed occasionally, and volunteered at Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital.
Katherine began writing the day after an electrifying reading by Luis Alfaro, Jose Montoya, and Marisela Norte perform at Self Help Graphics around 1991. She soon was performing all over town, published two chapbooks with Laguna Poets, and joined Cecilia Woloch’s workhop. After a week in Richard Garcia’s workshop at Idyllwild, she realized she had no idea what a poem is, and started over.
Richard and Katherine were married shortly before the Enron crisis in CA, whereupon they moved to James Island SC. In Charleston they established The Long Table Poets for the study and writing of poems, and joined the board of The Poetry Society of SC. Katherine co-founded the committee that became the James Island Arts and Culture Commission, from there establishing Poetry at McLeod.
Retired now from medical research, she dabbles in environmental science, surfing, website and textile design, art collecting, classical cello, community arts, and the garden. No longer married, she still lives on James Island.
Katherine’s first collection of poems, The Devil Cruises Pacific Coast Highway, is due April 2023 from Kelsay Books. Her second and third manuscripts are in preparation.
Katherine was born into the Navy of white Southern parents and spent her teens and twenties in Charleston SC, where she hung on to literature for dear life. She majored in French at the College of Charleston, learned to surf, screen T-shirts and movies, play the cello, and do science. In 1996 she moved to Los Angeles, where she worked in biomedical research at UCLA, surfed occasionally, and volunteered at Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital.
Katherine began writing the day after an electrifying reading by Luis Alfaro, Jose Montoya, and Marisela Norte perform at Self Help Graphics around 1991. She soon was performing all over town, published two chapbooks with Laguna Poets, and joined Cecilia Woloch’s workhop. After a week in Richard Garcia’s workshop at Idyllwild, she realized she had no idea what a poem is, and started over.
Richard and Katherine were married shortly before the Enron crisis in CA, whereupon they moved to James Island SC. In Charleston they established The Long Table Poets for the study and writing of poems, and joined the board of The Poetry Society of SC. Katherine co-founded the committee that became the James Island Arts and Culture Commission, from there establishing Poetry at McLeod.
Retired now from medical research, she dabbles in environmental science, surfing, website and textile design, art collecting, classical cello, community arts, and the garden. No longer married, she still lives on James Island.
Katherine’s first collection of poems, The Devil Cruises Pacific Coast Highway, is due April 2023 from Kelsay Books. Her second and third manuscripts are in preparation.

Selected Readings
2023
Piccolo Spoleto Sundown Poetry Festival Book signinglaunch at Buxton Books
2020
Carolina Poets Live on Facebook (with jackie Shelton Greene and Quraysh Al-Lansana)
2016
Role of "The Original Swallow" in The Red Bowl by Holaday Mason, Beyond Baroque, Venice CA
2013
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston SC
2012
Piccolo Spoleto Sundown Poetry Festival, Charleston SC; Loyola Marymount University, Westchester CA
2010
City Gallery at Waterfront Park, Contemporary Charleston
2009
Monday Night Poetry & Music, Charleston SC; Coastal Carolina University, Litchfield, SC; Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach SC; Beyond Baroque, Venice CA (with Frank Gaspar)
2008
Charleston County Library, Charleston SC
2007
Sotto Voce Poetry Festival, Shepherdstown WV
2006
Charleston County Library, Charleston SC
2005
Monday Night Blues, Charleston SC; Callanwolde Arts Center, Atlanta GA; Rhapsodomancy at the Good Luck Bar, Hollywood CA
2004
The Ugly Mug, Orange, CA; Monday Night Blues, Charleston SC; Java Monkey Cafe, Atlanta GA; Village Books, Pacific Palisades CA
2003
Redondo Poets, Redondo Beach CA; Mount San Antonio College, Walnut CA
2002
The Ugly Mug, Orange CA; Sunland-Tujunga Library, Tujunga CA
2001
Valley Contemnporary Poets, Canoga Park CA; Sunland-Tujunga Library, Tujunga CA; Curators’ Choice Gala Reading, Los Angeles Poetry Festival
(with BH Fairchild and Richard Garcia)
2000
Valley Contemporary Poets, North Hollywood Library, CA; Beyond Baroque, Venice CA; KXLU FM 88.9, Loyola Marymount University, Westchester CA
1999
Al’s Bar, Los Angeles CA; Action Space, Los Angeles CA
1998
Galeria Otra Vez, East Los Angeles CA; Laguna Poets, Laguna Beach CA
1996
KXLU FM 88.9, Loyola University, Westchester CA
1995
Midnight Special Books, Santa Monica CA
1994
KXLU FM 88.9, Loyola University, Westchester CA
1993
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, Venice CA
2023
Piccolo Spoleto Sundown Poetry Festival Book signinglaunch at Buxton Books
2020
Carolina Poets Live on Facebook (with jackie Shelton Greene and Quraysh Al-Lansana)
2016
Role of "The Original Swallow" in The Red Bowl by Holaday Mason, Beyond Baroque, Venice CA
2013
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston SC
2012
Piccolo Spoleto Sundown Poetry Festival, Charleston SC; Loyola Marymount University, Westchester CA
2010
City Gallery at Waterfront Park, Contemporary Charleston
2009
Monday Night Poetry & Music, Charleston SC; Coastal Carolina University, Litchfield, SC; Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach SC; Beyond Baroque, Venice CA (with Frank Gaspar)
2008
Charleston County Library, Charleston SC
2007
Sotto Voce Poetry Festival, Shepherdstown WV
2006
Charleston County Library, Charleston SC
2005
Monday Night Blues, Charleston SC; Callanwolde Arts Center, Atlanta GA; Rhapsodomancy at the Good Luck Bar, Hollywood CA
2004
The Ugly Mug, Orange, CA; Monday Night Blues, Charleston SC; Java Monkey Cafe, Atlanta GA; Village Books, Pacific Palisades CA
2003
Redondo Poets, Redondo Beach CA; Mount San Antonio College, Walnut CA
2002
The Ugly Mug, Orange CA; Sunland-Tujunga Library, Tujunga CA
2001
Valley Contemnporary Poets, Canoga Park CA; Sunland-Tujunga Library, Tujunga CA; Curators’ Choice Gala Reading, Los Angeles Poetry Festival
(with BH Fairchild and Richard Garcia)
2000
Valley Contemporary Poets, North Hollywood Library, CA; Beyond Baroque, Venice CA; KXLU FM 88.9, Loyola Marymount University, Westchester CA
1999
Al’s Bar, Los Angeles CA; Action Space, Los Angeles CA
1998
Galeria Otra Vez, East Los Angeles CA; Laguna Poets, Laguna Beach CA
1996
KXLU FM 88.9, Loyola University, Westchester CA
1995
Midnight Special Books, Santa Monica CA
1994
KXLU FM 88.9, Loyola University, Westchester CA
1993
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, Venice CA