Beth Oast Williams
About the Poet
Born on August 22, 1964 in Portsmouth, Virginia, Beth Williams began writing poetry in high school and college, graduating from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in 1986. Initially working as a banker and then a librarian, Beth turned to poetry full time in 2017, taking classes locally at the Muse Writers Center and later at Virginia Quarterly Review and Bread Loaf Writers Conferences. Her teachers have included Luisa Igloria, Tim Seibles, Mary Szybist, Sally Keith, Tyler Mills, Tess Taylor and Kim Addonizio.
Her first chapbook, Riding Horses in the Harbor, was published in 2020 by Finishing Line Press. Her poems have appeared in West Texas Literary Review, Wisconsin Review, Glass Mountain, GASHER Journal, Poetry South, Fjords Review and Rattle's Poets Respond, among others and have been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. She lives in Norfolk, Virginia.
Region
Hampton Roads
Virginia City or County Affiliation
Norfolk
Years of Residence in Virginia
57
Current City/State of Residence
Norfolk
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
White
Year of Birth
1964
Keywords/Tags
nature, death, current events
Website
Published Works or Performances
- Riding Horses in the Harbor. Finishing Line Press, 2020.
Selected Individual Poems or Performances
- Childhood Memories Thrown in a Jar, 2021. Sweet Tree Review.
- Kickball, 2020. GASHER Journal.
- I Knew Better Than to Say, 2021. Rattle Poets Respond.
- Self Portrait With Open Palms and Ice Cubes, 2021. Hawaii Pacific Review.
- Searching Elegies, 2020. Into the VOID, #16.
Beth Oast Williams