MARIAM WILLIAMS

Mariam I. Williams [http://mariamwilliams.com] is a writer, dancer, and cultural curator who writes to find answers, dances to find joy, and curates to deepen understanding. She claims Maya Angelou, Ntozake Shange, and Katherine Dunham as her literary, dance, and research ancestors, and claims Louisville, KY, and Philadelphia, PA, as homes. Amplifying Black women’s stories to inspire Black communities towards healing and collective liberation is her lifelong project and purpose, one she's most enjoyed fulfilling through her workshop series, Black Womanhood (Re-)Affirmation Project. Mariam holds an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers-Camden, and her publication credits include Longreads, The Common, EBONY, and The Citron Review. In July 2025, love and the U.S.’s complex immigration rules pushed her to relocate to Ghana. She has chronicled that journey on her Substack, Maya’s Dusty Traveling Shoes [https://mayasdustytravelingshoes.substack.com].

Mariam is also passionate about archives. She has kept every journal she's owned since age eight and wishes every Black woman would do the same. She lived her adolescent and undergraduate years as a painter, and while visual arts and The Ancestors occasionally nudge her to make a collage, she feels the latter most often when practicing African Diasporic dance traditions. 

Instagram: missmariamw