Joy Williams

Williams is the author of four novels, four collections of short fiction, and a book of essays Ill Nature (2001). Her work has been nominated for the National Book Award, The Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her most recent title is Ninety-Nine Stories of God (2016). Her stories begin realistically enough, then turn into hallucinatory fairy tales that are grimly funny. Williams is also noted for her writing on the environment, including a guidebook on the Florida Keys, which Conde Nast described as one of the best guidebooks ever written. Williams has taught creative writing at the University of Arizona, the University of Houston, the University of Florida, the University of Iowa, and the University of Wyoming, where she is currently.