"Ian Williams writes challenging poetry. His poems address the crisis of young, black masculinity in cities, paint starkly urban portraits of life and break open stereotypes the way a student taught him to snap the back of a ramen noodle packet. Sly humour laces through this collection, and Williams is adept at playing with language to change meanings in unexpected ways. For him it's easy to turn the word go into gone."
"Ian Williams' You Know Who You Are x-rays our social masks, our deceitful, greeting-card and billboard and video slogans, to show us up as who we really are - still human despite all the technology that makes us sound like idiots and prods us to feel nothing. Williams don't care about bout e-mail poses or cellphone attitude; he tears away at out language of bleeps and downloads and broadcasts to show us vulnerable, full of hurt and desire. What's he like? Think Atwood, Coupland's Generation X, and Bök: avant-garde cool, intelligent saying. Pick it up, get hooked up, see you seeing you clearer." - George Elliot Clarke
"Reading Ian Williams' poems I am both shattered and revived. They conjure a dazzling concoction of loneliness and hope, a wild display of the endless sparks and twists that become our lives. You Know Who You Are is an electric addition to Canadian poetry. What a debut!" - Carolyn Smart
Ian Williams received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and is currently a professor at Fitchburg State College. He has held multiple fellowships and residencies and his writing has been in many journal across Canada and the US. Williams has a collection of short stories forthcoming from Freehand Books in 2011. He divides his time between Ontario and Massachusetts.
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