I'm a poet in the boldest ways.
| books
| press + recognition
| press + recognition
Rooted in oral tradition, Chamorrita Song pays homage to Black and Chamorro cultures, honoring the artistic expressions that these communities have created to reconcile lifetimes of imposed trauma. Bearing witness to these many narratives, Williams intertwines spoken word poetry and gospel music with Chamorro storytelling, weaving together the nuanced histories of queer, Black, and Indigenous existence and literature.
A finalist for the Button Poetry Chapbook Contest, and was selected as runner-up from the Backbone Press 3rd Annual Chapbook Competition. With nods to poetic legends like Amiri Baraka and Lucille Clifton, Who All Gon’ Be There? tackles Blackness and womanhood with a commanding, often searing voice.
An ode to the art that lives within yourself. It is a charge to life. A way of saying, there is art in you, and nobody can take that away.
| anthologies + journals
In this anthology of contemporary eco-literature, the editors have gathered an ensemble of a hundred emerging, mid-career, and established Indigenous writers from Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and the global Pacific diaspora. The poem "fa’ñague /fuh-nyah-gwee/" by Danielle P. Williams was featured.
Hooligan Magazine, "Container for Trauma"
Fanachu, Voices of the Diaspora Zine, "Two Sonnets/For Mothers"
IceFloe Press, Four Works
Indiana Review, "When people tell me that dancing hula makes you exotic"
Gulf Coast Journal, "Kantan Chamorrita 1-5"
PRISM International, "[but do you really like black people?]"
The Pinch, "Black Body as [ ] Bird"
Ninth Letter, "A Walk on June 19," "fa'ñague /fuh-nyah-ghee/," and "Gospel"
Hobart, "Don't Drink the Kool-Aid"
Hooligan Magazine, "Billie Holiday VS The United States" and "A Twitter Sonnet"
Juked Magazine, "good times"
MixedMag, "In Today's Version Of A Life That Is Not My Own"
Southword 40, "these are the phases"
ANMLY, "Generational"
Cobra Milk, "Black Music" and "All Sappho's Music is Lost..."
Flypaper Lit, "Yutu 2018"
Kissing Dynamite Poetry, "Bear in mind that death is a drum"
The Hellebore, "Sideline Ho"
Foothill Poetry Journal, "What Walking and Poetry Have in Common"
JMWW Journal, "When the Air is Thick"
Barren Magazine, "16th Street Neighborhood Protest"
Trampset, "a poem about poems" Sinking City, "The Valley of the Latte"
My Sister's Closet, "A Crystal Stair"
ucity review, "Baby of Black"
Third Point Press, "Tano I' Man Chamorro"
Praxis Center, "Undertakers" and "Toy Story Memorial"
Scalawag, "Wet Dogs" All The Sins, "The Reckoning"
Ms. Magazine, "Reads for the Rest of Us," Chamorrita Song named one of the Best Poetry Collections of 2025–2026, April ‘26
"Love Letter to the Community," An excerpt from Chamorrita Song was featured on digital billboards at West Hollywood Gateway for National Poetry Month. Curated by West Hollywood's first Poet Laureate, Steven Reigns, in partnership with the City of West Hollywood Arts Division, April ‘26
"Holding Court: Sapphic Voices," International Poetry Film Festival Los Angeles at Beyond Baroque, Documentary Featured Poet, Official Selection, April '26
Foreword Reviews, Chamorrita Song reviewed by Matt Sutherland, December '25
"The Mariana Islands claim a long line of Chamorro versemakers and storytellers. To this tradition, Danielle P. Williams adds a measure of Black gospel to create this wholly original debut collection."
| readings + visiting engagements
Ofelia Zepeda Reading for Indigenous Poets, Reading + Visiting Writer, University of Arizona Poetry Center, Tucson, AZ, November ‘26
The Future Is Unsettled: Decolonial Poetics, Panel + Reading,
Bay Area Book Festival, Berkley, CA, May ‘26
NINA at nina, Reading, nina Atwater, Los Ángeles, CA, May ‘26
A multidisciplinary celebration of Nina Simone's music and legacy, presented by Jana Naomi Smith x Relatively Conscious.
Sing, Slam, Shout!, Panel + Reading, Tucson Festival of Books, Tucson, AZ, March '26
Poetry vs. the Patriarchy, Panel + Reading, Tucson Festival of Books, March ‘26
Palabras Literary Salon, Reading + Discussion, Not There Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, January ‘26. In celebration of Chamorrita Song at this BIPOC-centered intergenerational literary salon created by West Hollywood Poet Laureate, Jen Chang. Curated theme from poet: "Gospel."
| awards + nominations
Ninth Letter 2020 Literary Award Winner in Poetry
2020 Virginia Downs Poetry Award
Finalist Arts & Letters Rumi Prize for Poetry
Finalist Button Poetry 2021 Chapbook Contest Runner-Up
Backbone Press 3rd Annual Chapbook Contest
Best Micro-fiction 2022 Nomination, ANMLY
Best of the Net 2021 Nomination, Kissing Dynamite
Best New Poets 2021 Nomination, Foothill Poetry Journal
Pushcart Prize Nomination 2020, Foothill Poetry Journal
Pushcart Prize Nomination 2020, Sinking City
| fellowships
2021 Langston Hughes Fellow
Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2020 Workshop Fellow
The Watering Hole Workshop Fellow
Open Mouth Poetry Retreat
2019 MFA Travel Fellow, Alan Cheuse Writers Center