Karen S. Williams’ poetry, fiction, and essays have been published in numerous journals, magazines, newspapers, and anthologies including Tavis Smiley’s Keeping the Faith; Bum Rush the Page; Spirit and Flame; Beyond the Frontier; Black Hair: Art, Style and Culture; and Abandon Automobile, among others. Her manuscript, Elegy for a Scarred Shoulder, focusing on African Americans’ health and medical experiences spanning from the slavery era to contemporary times, was a finalist for the 2004 Naomi Long Madgett/Lotus Press Poetry Award, and will be published in 2008 by Willow Books (an imprint of Aquarius Press.) Karen received her undergraduate degree from The Ohio University and two graduate degrees, respectively, from Wayne State University and Michigan State University. A Cave Canem Workshop for African American Poets Fellow, a Broadside Press Poet, and a Squaw Valley Poet, Karen is the former Senior Poetry Editor and Chair of the Board of the Detroit Writer’s Guild.
"The poems in Elegy for a Scarred Shoulder are grounded in history and
the realities of the human body. Author, Karen S. Williams, looks at the cruelty of oppression and enslavement, but she insists on treating each character as an individual. Even when most stark, these are poems of healing."
--Dawn McDuffie, author, Carmina Detroit
"Karen Williams is one of the finest poets writing in Metro Detroit today .
Her sensitive images and strong metaphors take her readers deep into the human experience and struggle to better understand our whole humanity and our historical achievements. We are blessed to have such a poet amongst us in Motown. She is able to take on difficult topics like race, history and
medicine and translate them all into readable, contemplative moments of serious poetry. I love Ms. Williams work. Her poetry challenges us to think long and hard about all our yesterdays and to face the challenges of all our tomorrows."
--M.L. Liebler, author of Wide Awake in Someone Else's Dream (Wayne State
