Frederick G. Williams

Frederick G. Williams, a grandson twice removed and namesake of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s counselor in the First Presidency, received a BA in Hispanic civilization from Brigham Young University (1965) and an MA and PhD in Portuguese studies with a Spanish minor from the University of Wisconsin (1967, 1970).

For twenty-seven years, he was a professor of literature and cultural history written in Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California (UCLA and UCSB), chairman of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for seven years (UCSB), director of the Jorge de Sena Center for Portuguese Studies for four years (UCSB), and for a year directed the University of California systemwide study center at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. He has published over fifty articles, most on Luso-Brazilian topics, and twenty-six volumes (with special emphasis on the nineteenth-century Brazilian poet Sousândrade and twentieth-century Portuguese poet Jorge de Sena).

Professor Williams joined the faculty of Brigham Young University in 1997. During his twenty years of teaching and researching at BYU, he has translated into English the major poets from all eight countries and two regions of the world whose official language is Portuguese (over a thousand poems) and published them in bilingual volumes through BYU Studies. These publications allow the English reader an opportunity to savor the beauty, richness, and diversity found in Portuguese poetry. Williams served as mission president in São Paulo with his wife, Carol (a professionally trained coloratura soprano who sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for seven years). They also served as president and matron of the Recife Brazil Temple.