Best known as a poet, William Carlos Williams was an accomplished writer in many genres. He produced twenty-three volumes of poetry, five collections of short fiction, six novels, seven books of nonfiction, five plays, and four translations. His work, in all genres, is characterized by a direct treatment of reality, creating an artistry of immediacy and native freshness.

Williams was born and lived his entire life in Rutherford, New Jersey. His father, William George Williams, was English by birth and remained a British citizen his entire life, even though he left England at age five. Williams's mother, Raquel Hélène Rose Hoheb (called Elena by her family), was partly French, Dutch, Spanish, and Jewish. An exotic and romantic personality, she exerted a strong influence on her son, as did his paternal grandmother, Emily Dickinson Wellcome. As a youth Williams was passionately devoted to sports, especially...