Dana A. Williams, who grew up in Tallulah, has been nominated for a 2026 NAACP Image Award for her book, “Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship.”
The book is nominated in the Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography category for the 2026 NAACP Image Awards.
Williams is dean of the Graduate School at Howard University and a professor of African American literature. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Grambling State University in 1993, a master’s degree from Howard University in 1995 and a doctorate in African American literature from Howard in 1999.
She received a Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship in 1999 and later served as a visiting research fellow at Northwestern University. She taught at Louisiana State University for four years before returning to Howard as a faculty member in 2003.
Williams served three terms as chair of Howard’s English Department beginning in 2009. She was named interim dean of the Graduate School in 2019 and was appointed permanent dean in 2021.
She has served as president of the College Language Association and the Modern Language Association and is immediate past president of the Toni Morrison Society. In 2016, she was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Council on the Humanities.
In interviews, Williams has said she grew up in North Louisiana in the town of Tallulah.
“Toni at Random” examines the editorial career of Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison during her years at Random House.
The NAACP Image Awards recognize achievements in film, television, music and literature. Nominees for the 2026 awards were announced earlier this year.
