Kalela Williams

Kalela Williams is a proud auntie, a cat mama, and an author living in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. She directs Virginia Humanities’ Virginia Center for the Book, and she has worked in literary public programs for more than fifteen years at the Free Library of Philadelphia, James Madison’s Furious Flower Poetry Center, and other institutions.

Kalela is a graduate of Tri-Cities High School in College Park, Georgia; the University of Mary Washington, and Goddard College, where she earned her Masters of Fine Arts (MFA).

Her creative work has appeared in Drunken Boat, Calyx: A Journal of Art and Literature by Women, and other literary magazines, with her poem “Braiding Hair” once featured on a BBC Radio 4 episode. She has been a recipient of the Fine Arts Work Center’s Archie D. and Bertha H. Walker Scholarship, a Tin House writing residency, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and a Roland Writers Residency.

As “Black History Maven,” Kalela’s community events and gatherings explore diverse histories, affirm Black identity, and spark boundless curiosity. She lives with her partner Davey Strattan White, where they add to their town’s thriving arts scene through the story-centered organization they co-founded, The Off Center.