Dera R. Williams – Resume
4316 Rilea Way #2• Oakland, CA 94605A•
510-816-2869
dwilliamsfrequent@gmail.com
Work Experience
Editorial Mentorship– December 2018- March 2019
Chapter 510 & The Department of Make Believe, Oakland, CA
–Mentored middle-school student in creative writing
–Edited students’ chapter books
Family Research Specialist- September 2015 – June 2017
Merritt Community College • 12500 Campus Dr., Oakland, CA
–Assist African American Studies students in genealogy research methods.
–Review and Edit family research projects
–Maintain family research case studies*
Curriculum Specialist (out of class) August 2012- July 2013
Merritt Community College • 12500 Campus Dr., Oakland, CA
–Liaison between campus and State Curriculum department
–Assist curriculum chair and instructors in curriculum develop
–Coordinate monthly reports on new curriculum
Staff Assistant/Admin. (Instruction) -November 1989 to August 2012
Merritt Community College • 12500 Campus Dr., Oakland, CA
–coordinate fee-base classes program;
–develop content and coordination of college catalog
–edit various reports including accreditation
–assist in curriculum development
Volunteer
Library Volunteer- October 2016 – 2017
Grass Valley Elementary School, Oakland, CA
Alzheimer’s Association- Advocate 2015 – present
Alameda County, CA
Education
Skyline High School, graduate • Oakland, CA 1968
A.A., Vista College (Berkeley City College), Berkeley • May 1990 • Liberal Studies
Additional Continuing Education
Hurston-Wright Writers, St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA- July 1999
Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Squaw Valley, CA- July- August 2001
Voices of Our Nation (VONA) University of San Francisco, July 2002
Various short-term writing workshops, retreats and classes from 1995- 2018
Genealogy classes and trainings in African-American family research and general genealogy research: 2004- 2016:
DNA Workshops
Finding the Last Slave Owner
Black-Native American history
Deciphering Slave Schedules
2012 Census Release
Publishing Credits
Steven Fong and the Grocery Store, Catching Memories: Two Languages/One Community Workshop, One Peoples Press, September 2019 (TBA)
A Tale of Two States, eMerge Magazine Summer 2019 (Contributor)
https://emerge-writerscolony.org/author/dera/
(Foreword) Sonar, Author: Nassor At-Thinnin Gant, Chapter 510, June 2019
(Foreword) Power Malfunction, Author: Maurice Mong, Chapter 510, June 2019
Not Shirley Temple Curls, NBTT: All the Women in My Family Sing, NBTT Publications, January 2018
I Remember Harlem, Where’s My Tiara?, Ideate Publishing, Fall 2017 (Contributor)
Reconstructing Mom, Supercharge Your Life After 60, Nubian Publishing: Fall 2017 (Contributor)
Piece-a-ways (audio & short story), Let’s Play Exhibition: Intuition, Imagination, and Black Creativity, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA: June 2- June 29, 2017
Grand Opening of the Africana Studies Community Research Center, The Baobab Tree: Spring 2016 issue.
Of Sweet Tea and Quilts, Our Black Mothers, Five Sisters Publishing: 2015 (Contributor)
Learning to Accept a New Mother, A New Way, Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California Blog: April 2015 (Contributor)
Author Profile of Vicki Ward, Alameda County’s Renew Magazine, Issue 3, Spring 2014
AAMLO Provides a Community Affair for All, Oakland Local: March 5, 2013
Dining Out—Cuban Style, Travel and Enjoy Magazine, Vol 1, Issue 1, March 2011
Mother Wit: Stories of Mothers and Daughters, Mamm Productions: August 2010. (Co-author)
Dear Michelle, Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady, SUNY Press: January 2009 (contributor)
Writing Family History in Small Bites, Baobab, African American Genealogical Society of Northern California: Fall Issue 2008 (contributor)
Hopes for a Dad’s First Born, Our Black Fathers: Brave, Bold, Beautiful, Five Sisters Publishing: 2008 (contributor)
Coming of Age in 1963, Museum of African Diaspora (MOAD) I’ve Known Rivers: The MOAD Stories Project; Online 2006 (contributor), Fall 2006 (Contributor)
The Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellions, Greenwood Publishing Group
Fall 2006 (Contributor)
Opportunity Knocks, Letters to My Teacher: Tributes to the People Who Have Made a Difference, Adams Media: 2006 (Contributor)
My Mother, Myself, Help! I’ve Turned into My Mother, Strebor Books/Simon & Schuster, November 2005 (Contributor)
Encyclopedia of African American Literature Greenwood Publishing Group, November 2005 (Contributor)
In the Company of Women (Epigraph), Life’s Spices from Seasoned Sistahs: A Collection of Stories from Mature Women of Color, Nubian Publishing: March 2005 (Contributor)
Going to Romance Slam Jam, Affaire DeCoeur, Vol 1, Issue 14: March 2005 (staff writer)
My Blackberry Summer, Peralta Press Journal, February: 2004 (Contributor)
Quilting a Legacy, A Cup of Comfort for Women, Adams Media Corp: September 2002
(Contributor)
Presentations, Readings, Artistic Expressions
July 23, 2019
Girls Fly! with Author, Dera Williams-“Finding Your Written Voice Series’
Podcast Blogtalk Radio interviewed by Girls Fly! Founder Gael Sylvia Pullen
www.blogtalkradio.com/sylviaglobal/2019/07/23/girls-fly-with-author-dera-williams–finding-your-written-voice-series
July 1, 2019
Feature/Interview, Writing Between the Vines Website
www.writingbetweenthevines.org/news/dera-williams
June 20, 2019
Writing Residency 6/16- 6/17/19
Poetluck Community Reading 6/0/19 (Excerpt from The Enchantments)
Writing Colony at Dairy Hollow, Eureka Spring, AR
June 3, 2019
There’s No Stopping to My Thoughts (theater production)
(Role) Parishioner
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Oakland, CA
April 28- May 3, 2019
Writer-in-Residence
Moshin Vineyards, Heraldsburg, CA
Community Reading & Author Talk 4-28-19
March 26, 2019
Women’s Month
Our Voices, Our Stories Reading & Discussion
All The Women In My Family Sing
African American Art & Culture Complex
San Francisco. CA
February 26, 2019
Alameda County Public Health
Black History Month Author Showcase
Reading and Panel
Oakland, CA
December 17, 2018
Bay Area Generations: Reading
Joyce Gordon Gallery
Oakland, CA
November 9, 2018
The Oakland Renaissance: A Roundtable of Afro-Futurist Luminaries
Panel Discussion & Interview: The Millions (panelist)
Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA
https://themillions.com/2019/01/the-oakland-renaissance-a-roundtable-of-afro-futurist-luminaries.html
October 20, 2018
Lit Crawl
AfroSurreal Writers Workshop Collective: Beyond Wakanda: Reading
The Laundry Café- San Francisco, CA
October 16, 2018
Living Room Light Exchange Bay Area: Reading and Discussion
AfroSurreal Writers Workshop
San Francisco, CA
June 23, 2018
NEA funded Digital Literature Garden: Co-curator and reading
AfroSurreal Writers Workshop Collective
Projection Series and Digital Stories
Frank Ogawa Plaza- Oakland, CA
May 26, 2018
Two Languages One Community Workshops: Reading
Reception and Reading (Steven Fong and the Grocery Store)
Oakland Asian Cultural Center- Oakland, CA
May 20, 2018
Reader for Where’s My Tiara anthology literary event: Reading & Discussion
Read contribution I Remember Harlem
Marcus Book Store, Oakland, CA
April 27, 2018
Reader for All The Women In My Family Sing anthology literary event: Reading & Discussion
Read contribution Not Shirley Temple Curls
Oakland Center for Spiritual Living, Oakland, CA
March 24, 2018
Reader for Where’s My Tiara anthology literary event
Read contribution I Remember Harlem
Elk Grove, CA
February 28, 2018
Reader for All The Women In My Family Sing anthology literary event
Read contribution Not Shirley Temple Curls
Barnes & Noble, San Jose, CA
February 15, 2018
Reader for All The Women In My Family Sing anthology literary event
Read contribution Not Shirley Temple Curls
Laurel Book Store, Oakland, CA
November 18, 2017
AfroSurreal Writers Workshop/Poet & Writers Brunch and Reading
Featured Reader: My Blackberry Summer
San Francisco, CA
November, 2017
Supercharge Your Life After 60 anthology
Read my story Reconstructing Mom
Railroad Book Depot, Pittsburgh, CA
October 28, 2017
Reader at Witches, Bitches & Creeps Literary Event
Reading of work-in-progress “Aminah, Moon Water Goddess”
Liminal, a Feminist Writing Space, Oakland, CA
June 16, 2017
Director- Time Capsules/Migrations Stories Project with AfroSurreal Writers Workshop & Story/Corps
Curated program of interviews of African-Americans of the Great Migrations with StoryCorps
Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA
June 2- June 29, 2017
Co-curator, Let’s Play Exhibition: Intuition, Imagination, and Black Creativity (Co-curator), Presented audio and reading of short story (Piece-a-ways) Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA
May 11, 2017
Co-hosted reading series, Intuition & Creativity for AfroSurreal Writers Workshop.
Bi-monthly series at Nomadic Press, Oakland, CA
May 6, 2017
Interviewed by Bookscover2cover with Sandra Fluck
Dera Williams on Discovering and Writing Heritage
Dera Williams on discovering and writing heritage
April 26, May 2 &3, 2017
Family Research Workshop
Merritt College (Africana Center) Oakland, CA
February 2012- February 2016
Part of African American Genealogical Society of Northern California team that assisted participants in genealogy research at Black Family History Day at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
February 7, 14, 28 2016
Black History Month Lecture Series:
Quilts in the Underground Railroad
The African-American History of Oral Tradition
May 7, 2011
Mother’s Day Breakfast presentation for Turning Pages Book Club
Linen Life Gallery 770 East Fourteenth Street, San Leandro, CA 94577
Keynote speaker and discussion of co-authored book: Mother Wit: Stories of Mothers and Daughters
April 9, 2011
Youth Empowerment Conference- Merritt College 12500 Campus Drive, Oakland, CA 94619
Panelist: Parent Workshop
Autographed copies of co-authored book: Mother Wit: Stories of Mothers and Daughters
March 7, 2011
Staff Development presentation- My Publishing Journey– Merritt College 12500 Campus Drive 94619
February 19, 2011
Presentation: Hollister Reading Council, Hollister School District 2690 Cienega Road Hollister, CA 95023- Meeting Children at the Crossroads of Where They Live
October 27, 2011 & April 27, 2010
Presentation and reading at Diablo Valley College, 321 Golf Club Rd., Pleasant Hill, CA Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady Text used for Dr. Carmen McNeil’s African American Psychology class spring 2010 and Fall 2010
October 2009
Reading for Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady
Read my story Dear Mihelle
Independent Book Store, Berkeley, CA
March 2007
So, You Think You Can Write (Co-presenter workshop) Merritt College, Oakland, CA.
November 2006, May 2008
Presentation and reading at Diablo Valley College, 321 Golf Club Rd., Pleasant Hill, CA
Life’s Spices from Seasoned Sistahs: A Collection of Stories from Mature Women of Color. Text used for Dr. Carmen McNeil’s African American Psychology class
2006
Reading for Help! I’ve Turned into My Mother anthology
Read my story My Mother, Myself
May 2005
Reading for Life’s Spices from Seasoned Sistahs: A Collection of Stories from Mature Women of Color anthology
Read contribution of epigraph In The Company of Women
Olivet Institutional Missionary Baptist Church, Oakland, CA
November 2002
Reader for A Cup of Comfort for Women anthology
Read my story Quilting a Legacy
Laurel Book Store, Oakland, CA
Awards and Affiliations
Writer Residency with Writing Colony of Dairy Hollow, Eureka Springs, Ark 6/16-6/23/19
Writer-In-Residence with Writing Between the Vines, Moshin Winery Heraldsburg CA 4/28-5/3/19
First Prize in Essay Contest on Racism- Coming of Age in 1963: September 2003
Squaw Valley Writers- Merit Scholarship : Summer 2001
Organizations
African-American Genealogical Society of Northern CaliforniaBoard of Directors and Recording Secretary
AfroSurreal Writers Workshop Collective- Co-director/Co-curator
Dera R. Williams 