Maya Williams, Portland Poet Laureate In-Person
Maya Williams (ey/em, they/them, and she/her) is a religious Black multiracial nonbinary suicide survivor who is currently an Ashley Bryan Fellow, a Creative Fellow of the University of New England's Maine Women Writers Collection and was selected as the seventh Poet Laureate of Portland, Maine for a July 2021 to July 2024 term.
- Date:
- Tuesday, February 17, 2026
- Time:
- 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Meeting Room
- Audience:
- Adults
- Categories:
- Author Talks Poetry
From The Headlight Review's Contest Judge for 2025 Olatunde Osinaike:
"As with all we tend, love is not linear. Some moments it breaks, others it flees like a comb from hair but it is here - where doubt ends and faith begins - that we find this dazzling collection of poems, moving us from our own understanding of expectation to the dream of reimagining. In Feminine Morbidity, we find an unapologetic writer able to walk the fine line of surprise and devotion, upending the long-held history of Western birthright and belonging. A lens that is at once an embodiment of resilience and uplift, this work is one of intention and reassertion. In an elevation of lineage and identity, Williams illustrates the true spark of liberation, acknowledging the spirit and language owed to that which we build in place of the empire."
