DONALD MACE WILLIAMS is a former writing coach for The Wichita Eagle and reporter and editor for papers that include Newsday, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and the Amarillo Globe-News. He has taught English and journalism at West Texas State and Baylor Universities. Williams holds a doctorate in English from the University of Texas. He lives in Austin, Texas, and his poetry has been published widely in journals in the U.S. and was collected in The Nectar Dancer. He is the author of Interlude in Umbarger: Italian POWs and a Texas Church, and the novels Black Tuesday's Child and The Sparrow and the Hall. His epic poem Wolfe and his memoir Being Ninety were published as a single edition in February 2023 and his translation Beowulf: For Fireside and Schoolroom was published in 2024.