Mona Williams

Mona Annette Williams (born 27 July 1943) is a Guyanese–New Zealand children's author, memoirist, oral storyteller and educator. Born in British Guiana, Williams has lived and worked in New Zealand since 1971, and performed in storytelling festivals around the world. Her performances incorporate music and dance. She has written over 24 stories for children, usually published in the New Zealand School Journal, and published an autobiography in 1995 about her experiences attending a colonial school in Guyana.

Early life and education Mona Williams was born in the township of Mackenzie in the colony of British Guiana in what is now Linden, Guyana, on 27 July 1943. She is Jewish and of African descent; her family surname Williams derives from the slave owners of her ancestors. She attended Bishops' High School on a scholarship. In interviews, she has expressed that as a black student, she found attending a predominantly white colonial school challenging, although she found solace in learning ballet and traditional dance. Her experiences there formed the basis for her 1995 autobiography, Bishops: My Turbulent Colonial Youth, She has said that when she arrived in New Zealand, her degree was regarded as fake and called a "wanky Yankee" degree. She has said that her children's stories were often veiled commentary on Guyana's struggle for independence. While studying at Stanford she worked in radio and television in San Francisco, and her storytelling programme Roots and Branches, broadcast on KQED, won a local Emmy award in 1971.

Williams moved to New Zealand in 1971, following her marriage to a New Zealander, Williams and Bolwell were both members of the Crows Feet Dance Collective, a contemporary dance company of older women based in Wellington. In November 2023, she presented the annual Panui lecture for Read NZ Te Pou Muramura at the National Library of New Zealand. Her lecture was published as Tell Us a Story Out of Your Own Mouth and is dedicated to her ancestors.

Williams has travelled widely including ten years teaching writing in Kuwait, and performing throughout Europe, including at the in 1999 in Rotterdam. In response to a question in 2002 about why she became a writer, Williams said:

Selected works Her published works are predominantly for children, and include:

"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 (short story collection, with Joy Cowley) (1984) Bishops: My Turbulent Colonial Youth (autobiography, 1995)