JL Williams was born in New Jersey and studied at Wellesley College and on the MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow.  Her poetry has been published in journals including laurahird.com, Aesthetica, The Red Wheelbarrow, Chanticleer, Cutting Teeth, The Wolf and The Howler, Orbis, Poetry Salzburg Review, Poetry Wales, Gutter, Brand, Metropolis, Salamander Cove, Shearsman and Stand.

Since moving to Edinburgh in 2001 she has been active both as a poet and in the performing arts as a director and producer, most recently of the performance art cabaret Neue Liebe.  She was awarded a grant from the Scottish Arts Council in 2006 for a poetry collaboration entitled chiaroscuro pentimenti with composer Martin Parker and artist Anna Chapman.