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My stories are for those who will come later. Memories not to be forgotten, but as histories living on.

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In years of experience, I contributed to numerous literary projects that helped colleagues and groups to help them achieve their goals. I am available for commissioned work. See my contact below and get in touch.

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My skills and specialties include short story, fiction, storytelling, editing, and Getting Things Done.

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My portfolio showcases various group anthologies and personal projects produced throughout my career. Subscribe to my site to get updated when I publish new work.


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Dera R. Williams, author, writer, Griot reads from her cell phone for Litquake Lit Crawl 2018

Inheriting the Role of Griot

Some family stories are told over and over and depending on who is doing the telling determines what and how it happened. When attempting to decipher what is indeed truth and what is fiction, one needs to peel back the layers of the telling, one by one, examine and decide what to keep and what to discard.

Mindful of the fact that children were not be in “grown folks’ business”, I was always lurking around corners or outside doors, eager for a morsel of something juicy that would enhance my diary entrees for the night. I could easily take a word or phrase heard and weave into something dramatic that would make for a good tale.

I was therefore at full attention when sitting on the front porch of the “old house” where everyone was welcome when visiting southern, rural Arkansas during the summers of my youth.

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Black Literature:What Else but Positive

(I wrote this piece in 2007 for romance author Deirdre Savoy’s newsletter. At that time there was much controversy among both Black readers and writers about the quality of Black literature that was being produced. The impetus for the controversy was the onslaught of urban or street lit books that were being published by mainstream…


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