Paul O. Williams (January 17, 1935 – June 2, 2009) was an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

writer and

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

poet. Williams won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Award and the Museum of Haiku Literature Award; and was professor emeritus of English at

Principia College Principia College (Principia or Prin) is a private liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois. It was founded in 1912 by Mary Kimball Morgan with the purpose of "serving the Cause of Christian Science." "Although the College is not affiliated wit ...

Elsah, Illinois Elsah is a village in Jersey County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the village had a total population of 519. Michael Pitchford is the village's current acting mayor. It is the home of Principia College. Elsah is a part of the Metro-East reg ...

and president of the

Haiku Society of America The Haiku Society of America is a non-profit organization composed of haiku poets, editors, critics, publishers and enthusiasts that promotes the composition and appreciation of haiku in English. Founded in 1968, it is the largest society dedicate ...

Life

His most notable science fiction works are a series of novels, the Pelbar Cycle, set in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

about a thousand years after a "time of fire", in which the world was nearly totally depopulated. The novels track a gradual reconnection of the human cultures which developed. Much of the action takes place in the communities of the Pelbar, along the

Upper Mississippi River The Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, at the confluence of its main tributary, the Missouri River. History In terms of geologic and hydrographic history, the Upper ...

— in the general vicinity of Elsah. Several cultures, including the matriarchal Pelbar, join together in the Heart River Federation. Others, especially the tyrannical Tantal and slave-raiding Tusco, fall apart after suffering defeats. The predominant characters are change agents: Tor, Jestak, Stel and his wife Ahroe Westrun. All are Pelbar except for Tor who is Shumai. Williams won the

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...

in Science Fiction in 1983. Williams was a professor at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

and

, and a longtime contributor to ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

''. He is also known as a writer of

senryū is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 (or , often translated as syllables, but see the article on for distinctions). tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and a ...

, and

tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the ''Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short poem ...

, and wrote a number of essays on the haiku form in English. In a 1975 essay, he coined the term "Tontoism" to refer to the practice of writing haiku with missing

articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: G ...

("the", "a", or "an"), which he claimed made the haiku sound like the stunted English of the Indian sidekick,

Tonto Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native American (either Comanche or Potawatomi) companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Tonto has appeared in radio and televi ...

, in the ''

Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

'' radio and television series. In 2001, his best essays were collected in ''The Nick of Time: Essays on Haiku Aesthetics'', edited by Lee Gurga and Michael Dylan Welch. Williams was the president of the

(1999) and vice president of the Tanka Society of America (2000). In 1989 he won the Museum of Haiku Literature Award from the Haiku Society of America with this poem written for

Nick Virgilio Nicholas Anthony Virgilio (June 28, 1928 – January 3, 1989) was an internationally recognized haiku poet who is credited with helping to popularize the Japanese style of poetry in the United States. Early life Virgilio was born in Camden, New ...

shortly after Nick's death: Williams died from an

aortic dissection Aortic dissection (AD) occurs when an injury to the innermost layer of the aorta allows blood to flow between the layers of the aortic wall, forcing the layers apart. In most cases, this is associated with a sudden onset of severe chest or ...

on June 2, 2009.

Selected works

;The Pelbar Cycle * ''The Breaking of Northwall'' (1981) * ''The Ends of the Circle'' (1981) * ''The Dome in the Forest'' (1981) * ''The Fall of the Shell'' (1982) * ''An Ambush of Shadows'' (1983) * ''Song of the Axe'' (1984) * ''The Sword of Forbearance'' (1985) : (The Pelbar Cycle was republished in 2005–2006 by the

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Univer ...

.) ;Gorboduc Series * ''The Gifts of the Gorboduc Vandal'' (1989) * ''The Man from Far Cloud'' (2004) ;Haiku, senryū, tanka, and other poetry books * ''The Edge of the Woods: 55 Haiku'' (1968; haiku) * ''Tracks on the River'' (1982; haiku) * ''Growing in the Rain'' (1991; longer poetry) * ''Outside Robins Sing: Selected Haiku'' July 1999. Brooks Books 56 pages. * ''The Nick of Time: Essays on Haiku Aesthetics'' by Paul O. Williams, Press Here, 2001, (winner of the Haiku Society of America's 2002 Merit Award for Best Criticism) * ''These Audacious Maples'' (2007; tanka) * ''The Day of Strawberries'', edited by Paul O. Williams (San Francisco: Two Autumns Press, 2004) — the companion chapbook to the Haiku Poets of Northern California’s fifteenth annual Two Autumns poetry reading series
Paul's Shiki Monthly Kukai Entries
;Other published works *
Frederick Oakes Sylvester: the artist's encounter with Elsah
' (1986, illustrated biography of Frederick Oakes Sylvester)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Paul O. 1935 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers Deaths from aortic dissection English-language haiku poets John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets American male poets American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Principia College faculty Duke University faculty The Christian Science Monitor people