** SENSITIVE CONTENT WARNING: This episode references suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 in the U.S., or visit www.988maine.com ** Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share, explore, and celebrate poetry, hosted by John Gillespie. This episode features Maya Williams (ey/they/she), whose work covers suicide awareness, mental health, faith, entertainment media, grief, interpersonal relationships, intimate partner violence, and healing. Ey reads eir poems: "On Building an Assignment at Birth," "On Building a Shrine," "Feminine Morbidity, " and "For Wanda Coleman's 'Wicked Enchantment'".
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.
Maya's debut poetry collection, Judas & Suicide, is available through Game Over Books. Eir second poetry collection, Refused a Second Date, is available through Harbor Editions. Maya's third poetry collection, a chapbook: What's So Wrong with a Pity Party Anyway? , is available via Garden Party Collective. Maya's fourth poetry collection, a chapbook: Feminine Morbidity is available through The Headlight Review.
Maya's collections are a finalist of a New England Book Award, a finalist of a Maine Literary Award, a winner of Garden Party Collective's chapbook contest, and a winner of The Headlight Review's chapbook contest respectively. They were also a recipient of the Maine Humanities Council's Constance Carlson Public Humanities Prize in 2024.
Catch Maya hosting the hybrid open mic series Port Veritas on Tuesday nights and hosting the hybrid writing workshop series at Novel Maine on Sunday mornings. You can support Maya's poetry on eir Patreon page and follow their work at mayawilliamspoet.com.
*SENSITIVE CONTENT WARNING: This episode references the existence of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 in the U.S., or visit www.988maine.com.