JL Williams was born in New Jersey and studied at Wellesley College and on the MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow. Her poetry has been published in journals including Poetry Wales, The Wolf, Shearsman, Fulcrum and Stand.
Since moving to Edinburgh in 2001 she has been active both as a poet and in the performing arts as a director and producer. She was awarded a grant from the Scottish Arts Council for a poetry collaboration entitled chiaroscuro pentimenti with composer Martin Parker and artist Anna Chapman and the Edwin Morgan Travel Bursary from the Scottish Arts Trust. In September 2009 she journeyed to the Aeolian Isles to write a collection inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It is called Condition of Fire and is published by Shearsman Books.
JL Williams uses the phrase melopoesie to describe the blending of poetry and music, often via collaboration with a musician or composer. The focus of melopoesie is not to underscore poetry with music but to produce a complete work in which both forms illuminate one another. She is exploring this form via melopoesie experiments, often with the composer James Iremonger, some of which can be heard on the Opul page. If you would like to hear more or to know more about melopoesie, please get in touch.
Listen
Quotation
JL Williams with music by James Iremonger
September 2010
Pteria
JL Williams with music by James Iremonger at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
June 2010
The Library
Hidden Door Festival Installation
October 2010
JL Williams with music by Dave Conway and Friends
July 2010
Radio Scotland Book Cafe New Talent Week
2008 Interview
Poetry Library London
November 2008
recording by philip kuhn
From the Kailash Project with James Iremonger
Rue Eyasses
I Knew You First
The Court of Sai Dhun-Jow
melopoesie by JL Williams
All the Guitars
Sleep Song (images by James Iremonger)
Scottish Poetry Library Podcast
featuring Laertes, Why Are You Crying?
