William has been writing poems, publishing them and giving readings since moving to Rochester in 1973. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Poetry Now, Country Journal, Off Course, Niagara Magazine, Aurora, Longhouse; in the White Pine press anthologies On Turtle’s Back: A Biogeographic Anthology of New York State Poetry and Finding the Way Home: Poems of Awakening and Transformation. William has published three books: Ravine Street, from White Pine Press; Bold Cities and Golden Plains from FootHills press; and Walking Home from the Eastman House, self -published.

​His short stories have appeared in Crack the Spine, Midway, Sick Lit, Indiana Voice Journal, Hypertext, Visitant, Adelaide Magazine, BlazeVOX and Oyster River Pages.

In his fourth decade as a storyteller, William has performed at schools, libraries, arts festivals, museums and art galleries, telling both traditional tales and original work. to adults, teenagers, children of all ages. He has told his stories at the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the Rochester Museum and Science Center, The Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, Rundel Library, Brighton Library, the Greece Historical Society, the University of Rochester, Nazareth College and at numerous schools and recreation centers. His programs include folk tales and original stories for young children and literary stories and original historical works for adults and older children, including his recent fully documented rendition of Two Kinds of Fear, an original story of the overlapping lives of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass.

In addition to working with every age group from pre-school through adult and every language level from absolute beginner to advanced while teaching ESL for 26 years for BOCES, for five years in the summer program at the University of Rochester; and for seven years for the New York State Department of Migrant Education language immersion program in Oneonta, William has taught writing and storytelling to adults, particularly how literature and storytelling can enhance the teaching of English to non-native speakers. He has done numerous workshops and teacher trainings for the Rochester City School District, Monroe-2 BOCES, OCM BOCES and the Spencerport School district.

Since 2014, William has been an Assistant Editor for Narrative Magazine. an online publication out of San Francisco, and has written over 500 critiques in that position as first reader of submissions.

William currently lives in Irondequoit with his wife Pam. They have a daughter, Cedar, of Newton, Massachusetts, and a son, Elliott, of Rochester.

William can be reached at 585.467.9510 • billpruitt4@gmail.com