Leo Williams
English Teaching Assistant  |  2024-25

Bulgaria

Leo Williams is a third-year student, earning their master’s from the College of Fine Arts. They received their bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014. In August, they’ll be moving to Plovdiv, the second-largest city in Bulgaria and an arts and culture capital, as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant at the High School of Mathematics “Akad. Kiril Popov. This will be their fourth time returning to Bulgaria. They will connect with other burgeoning writers, break-dancers, and visual artists in Plovdiv. Williams also hopes to plan to develop arts and literary programming in Plovdiv and to work with other dancers at Plovdiv Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts to develop joint events, workshops and film screenings.

“I’m unbelievably lucky to have a Fulbright grant, an honor that wouldn’t have been possible without the accumulation of a series of events. You couldn’t have told me, couldn’t have convinced me then that I’d be moving to Plovdiv six years later, or that I’d be teaching English and American Literature to Bulgarian high schoolers. 

"I am deeply looking forward to transforming my current relationship with Bulgaria as a tourist to that of a teacher into one that offers more reciprocity.”  

Williams would also like to thank Simmons, Professor of Creative Writing Gregory Martin, Professor Bethany Davila, Professor Rachael Reynolds and Professor Tanya Ivanova-Sullivan.