CONSTANT LAVAL WILLIAMS is a Los Angeles-born poet and former resident of Paris, France, where his writing first came of age. Although he considers himself a poet first and foremost, he is also a musician (Post-Punk/Darkwave solo project Casket Cassette), photographer, experimental filmmaker and polymathic creative. He studied creative writing at the American University of Paris before transferring to the University of Southern California, where he received the Beau J. Boudreaux Poetry Award. His poetry has been published OR IS FORTHCOMING in journals such as THE ADROIT JOURNAL, Lana Turner, Prairie Schooner, Blackbird, Sixth Finch, DIAGRAM, RHINO, Painted Bride Quarterly, Sugar House Review, Bellvue Literary Review, Hotel Amerika, The American Journal of Poetry and december magazine, among others. He was a finalist for the 2023 Ninth Letter Literary Award and a semifinalist for the 2024 Gregory Djanikian Scholars Award and 2024 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship. He volunteers as a SENIOR reader at Ploughshares and graduated with an MFA in Poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in May of 2024.