Mona Williams

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Williams, Mona (1943 - ) is a Guyanan storyteller, children's writer and educator whose action-packed stories and dramatic presentations enthrall audiences of all ages.

Born in Guyana - then British Guiana - she secured a place at the exclusive girls' school Bishops. The school lends it name to her autobiography, Bishops: My Turbulent Colonial Youth (1995) which recounts her experiences at the school, both destructive and enriching. On one hand Williams quickly discovered her place at the school as 'poor, black and unknown.' On the other, she embraced the joys of English literature, music and culture, reading Dickens, singing Anglican hymns and cooking roast beef and Yorkshire pudding in the sweltering equatorial heat.

Mona was a Fulbright and Ford Foundation scholar at Stanford University and holds a BA in mass communication.

She is the author of more than twenty four books, mostly for children. Their titles give an idea of the vast, varied, and magical world they present, from The ant who refused titles (1975) to How we made a colour television show (1973). Mona has performed at storytelling festivals, and at numerous schools over the past fifty years as part of Read NZ Te Pou Muramura's Writers in Schools programme.

She was the 1993 Waikato University Writer-in-Residence.

Her titles are: How we made a colour television show (1973); The turtle who longed to be a bird (1973); Christmas in Guyana (1974); The day I swam the river (1974); How the goat lost his voice (1974); Old Medicine (1974); The ant who refused titles (1975); Granny (1975); Father Martin Heale (1975); Old Bell (1975); When I went to the pictures (1975); Stealing the gooseberry jam (1975); Thinking about it (1975); Speaking the truth (1975); You really saw my father? (1976); A tale to match (1977); Spell wool (1977); Sharing (1977); The outsider (1977); Secrets (1978); The Bicycle (1978); Old Mrs Davidson (1983); The strange cure (1984); Two of a kind (with Joy Cowley) (1984); Bishops: My Turbulent Colonial Youth (1995).

Mona has visited over 50 foreign countries. She taught writing in the Middle East for ten years, and performed as a storyteller at various festivals, conferences and weddings. The towns and cities where she performed include Rotterdam, Edinburgh, Zurich, Selkerk, Salmiya (Kuwait), Bergen (Norway), Ontario (Canada), Tembagapura (Irian Jaya), and Norfolk Island.

WRITERS IN SCHOOLS INFORMATION

Mona Williams is available for school visits as part of Read NZ Te Pou Muramura's Writers in Schools programme. She is a performer of oral literature. She is able to visit primary, intermediate and secondary schools (as well as universities and polytechs) to conduct narrative writing workshops, to experiment with elements of poetry and realistic fiction, and to promote the delights of reading. She is also able to present fully-costumed concert performances of 'oral literature'. Performances include selections from sagas; heroic tales; folk and fairy tales; autobiographical stories; wisdom narratives; Irish, Russian, Jewish, African and Caribbean heritage epics, myths and legends, and New Zealand historical dramatic tales of the sea and farming life.