The William Carlos Williams Society encourages and advances the study of Williams’ writing and its relationships to modern poetry and other literary forms, both in North America and in other areas of the world. The Society achieves this goal in several ways, primarily through the organization of panels on varying aspects of the poet’s work at both the MLA and ALA annual conventions. The Society also seeks to spread knowledge of Williams’ works to both academics and the general public and thus promote interest in his work.

Since being granted allied organization status in 1983, the Society has organized at least one panel on Williams at every MLA convention. We have also held an open business meeting, usually just prior to or immediately after the panel, in hopes of attracting new members to the Society. We participate in an open call for papers through the MLA webpage and also mail notices to all Society members soliciting paper submissions. In the spirit of Williams himself, the Society is very democratic in both its outlook and operation; we seek to include a broad, diverse range of our membership in all conference activities. We also organize a panel at the ALA conference. In addition, we have organized a biennial conference on William Carlos Williams since 2005, The Williams Society Biennial Conference.