Eley Williams

Eley Williams turns an interest in words, definitions, and textual oddities into fiction. The Liar’s Dictionary, her first novel, links a disaffected nineteenth-century lexicographer with a present-day intern who must identify the false entries he planted in a reference work. William Heinemann published it in Britain, followed by a US edition from Anchor. Its comic mystery explores how dictionaries claim authority while language keeps changing around them. Williams previously published the story collection Attrib. and Other Stories, which received the Republic of Consciousness Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has taught creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in literary journals and anthologies. The Liar’s Dictionary extends that experimental work into a dual-period novel built from wordplay, invented definitions, and the practical labor of editing.