Patricia Aya Williams grew up in San Jose, California, daughter of a Japanese-born mother and an American father. She is a graduate of San José State University, where she earned both a BA in humanities with a minor in Japanese and a master's in library and informationsciences. She enjoyed two diverse careers: first as a flight attendant, second as a public librarian. She is the author of the mini-chap Haiku for Parents (Origami Poems Project, 2020) and the chapbook Failure Goddess (Dancing Girl Press, 2026). Her poem "Ichiban" won the Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize 3rd Place in 2022, judged by Juan Felipe Herrera, and another poem, "Abilene," received a Steve Kowit PoetryPrize Honorable Mention. Her poems are published in or forthcoming from many journals, including Whale Road Review, Sheila-Na-Gig, Jackdaw Review, Bicoastal Review, Dunes Review, Molecule, and Cæsura. She has work forthcoming in the Tupelo Press anthology The Writes of Spring and the Pangyrus anthology A Table to Hold the World. Her poetry collection, Ichiban, was a finalist in the 2025Swan Scythe Press Chapbook Contest and, in its full-length form, won the 2025 Concrete Wolf Louis Award. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, Christopher, and dog, Binxy Elton.