Hamish Williams

Hamish Williams (BA, MA, PhD (UCT); BSc (RUG)) writes fantasy stories for readers young and old alike. His fiction is a mixture of traditional fantasy – immersive worldbuilding, interweaving storylines, and psychologically diverse heroes – with storytelling elements added from other genres such as detective fiction, literary fiction, beast fable, and satire. Thus far, the first two volumes of his fantasy series, Tales from Basthinia, have been published: The Southern Tide (2021) and Under the Green Cloud (2025). Alongside his creative work, Hamish has published various academic works which analyse ancient and modern literature (epic, fantasy, and other speculative forms) in terms of themes such as utopianism, hospitality, and decline and fall. His academic publications include Tolkien and the Classical World (ed., 2021, Walking Tree Publishers); The Ancient Sea: The Utopian and Catastrophic in Classical Narratives and Their Reception (ed., 2022, Liverpool University Press); and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Utopianism and the Classics (2023, Bloomsbury).