Thomas Chatterton Williams (born March 26, 1981)[3] is an American cultural critic and writer.

[2][5] Named after the English poet Thomas Chatterton, he was raised in Fanwood, New Jersey,[5] and attended Union Catholic Regional High School in Scotch Plains.

He also completed a master's degree from New York University's Cultural Reporting and Criticism program.

[7] The book is a coming-of-age memoir, mirroring Williams's childhood and adolescence in New Jersey to his father's experience in the segregated South.

[8] Williams's second book, Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race, was released on October 15, 2019.