Preslaysa Williams

Preslaysa Williams (née Edwards; born June 11, 1979) is an American actress, journalist, and author from New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is a novelist with HarperCollins, specializing in contemporary romance and women's fiction, with a focus on diverse characters. She has been featured in The New York Times, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, NPR, and Writer's Digest.

Williams attended Bishop Ahr High School in Edison, New Jersey (which has since been renamed as St. Thomas Aquinas High School) and graduated from Columbia University.

During her acting career, she was best-known for her role as Cindy Ornette on Nickelodeon's The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo (1996-1998). She was also a panelist on Figure It Out.

Acting
Williams began acting in the early 1990s where she performed under the stage name Presley Edwards. In 1990, she appeared in the Off-Broadway play, The Onliest One Who Can't Go Nowhere at the Ensemble Studio Theatre directed by the acclaimed director Woodie King, Jr and written by J.E. Franklin. She was called "appealing in the central role" by the New York Times.

In 1999, she acted as Gertrude in the Horton Foote play The Death of Papa, which was part of a series of plays called The Orphans' Home Cycle.

HarperCollins
She has been noted as "carving out [her] place on the American bookshelf with own-voices diaspora heroines."

Journalism
In 2020, Williams co-founded Black Catholic Messenger, a nonprofit media publication covering stories of interest to African-American Catholics. She has also written for Literary Hub.

Awards and recognition
Williams' writing accolades include the 2015 American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Award for Short Novel (for her work "Coming Home to Love"), and the Indiana Romance Writers of America's Golden Opportunity Award.

Williams has been featured in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, NPR, The Root, Boston.com, The Patriot-News, Writer's Digest, and Columbia Magazine.