Phillip B. Williams
Picador Guest Professor in the summer semester of 2025
Phillip B. Williams is a Chicago, Illinois native and currently on tour with his new novel, OURS, published by Penguin/Viking in 2024, which were translated and published in the same year to German at S.Fischer Verlag. He is the author of two collections of poetry: Thief in the Interior (ALICE JAMES BOOKS, 2016), which was the winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a Lambda Literary Award, and Mutiny (Penguin Books, 2021), which was a finalist for the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection and the winner of a 2022 American Book Award. Williams is also the recipient of a Whiting Award and fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches at NYU Creative Writing MFA and Randolph College low-res MFA.
Phillip will tour around in Germany and read from his current novel “Ours” while he is here as a #PicadorProf. You can catch him on official Picador-Events in Leipzig at Literaturhaus Leipzig, June 17, and in Berlin at LCB, July 8.
Berlin: On «Resilience, Protection & Soul»
What a vibrant summer evening at Wannsee!
What you missed? The Picador Guest Professor Phillip B. Williams in a thought-provoking conversation about »OURS« with the host Natasha A. Kelly on July 8th at the magical scenery of LCB.
“Reality has been getting stuck for me” replies Phillip on the question why there was a need for him to create a new world, a surreal world in OURS. Building a new home in language and literature, bringing characters to live, growing with them, talking and listening to them. The discussion led through paradigm shifts, guaranteeing and protecting a future, how much own soul is in a writers work and how life gets shaped by a self build “architecture”. This event was part of ›Paradigmenwechsel‹, Natasha’s academic series that delves into tipping points in both the past and present, exploring the opportunities that emerge from adopting new ways of thinking.
Thanks to Natasha for very accurate, curious questions, a flowing conversation, thanks to Phillip for honest and mesmerizing answers and reading parts and a big thank you to LCB and the amazing audience that was there with us!
Leipzig: Talk with the Artist about Freedom, Ancestry & Care
Writing can be an act of care – care for the words we choose, the histories they carry, and the people they touch. Phillip B. Williams connects ancestry and freedom in his work, while building new paths on old grounds.
In a thriving conversation about creative process, which extends beyond personal exploration, Senthuran Varatharajah and the #PicadorProf Phillip B. Williams invited the audience to reflect on their own heritage and recognize their connection to the world around them.
While a beautiful, warm summer evening passed through the garden of Literaturhaus Leipzig, Varatharajah and Williams exlopred the themes around “Mutiny”, “Thief in the Interior” and OURS. In Phillip’s work writing becomes a tool for breaking free from limitations, enabling the author to craft a story that is rooted in history while also reimagining the past in a meaningful way.
We thank EDIT Magazine and Leipzig Literaturhaus for the cooperation and all our partners for the great event. And a big thank you to this amazing crowd!
The photos were taken by Andreas Lamm.
