Short Biography:
Philip Lee Williams is the author of 12 published books, including nine novels and three works of creative nonfiction. His work has been published by many of the country's top presses, including Random House, Grove Press, W.W. Norton, and St. Martin's, in addition to university and small presses. His nature writing books are: Crossing Wildcat Ridge (University of Georgia Press, 1999) and In the Morning: Reflections from First Light (Mercer University Press, 2006). He has taught nature writing and creative writing at the University of Georgia and is currently assistant dean for public information in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at UGA. An accomplished science writer and a long-time member of the National Association of Science Writers, he lives with his family on seven forested acres in southern Oconee County, Ga.

Critical Description of Work:
My nature writing is largely focused on the seven rural acres on which my family lives in the Georgia piedmont, though it ranges farther than that. As a professional science writer, novelist, and poet, I use charged language to explore the natural world and to find connections between the parts of it. I examine my own land in the light of history, geology, flora, and fauna. And I work to understand how human beings have been a part of this land for nearly 10,000 years.