William Hawkins has lived most of his life in Ottawa, with side trips to Vancouver, Toronto, Tallahassee and Mexico. He is a veteran driver of the Blue Line taxi corps and includes prominent MPs, judges, journalists and bagmen among his regular clients. In recent years, Hawkins made a CD of his best songs, also titled Dancing Alone, and was subject of an onstage tribute at the Ottawa Folk Festival for his contributions to the music scene. His previous collections of poetry include Ottawa Poems (Kitchener: weed/flower press, 1966), The Gift of Space (Toronto: New Press, 1971) and Dancing Alone: Selected Poems 1960-1990 (Fredericton: Broken Jaw Press, 2005). In March 2013, William Hawkins was inducted in VERSeOttawa's Hall of Honour in recognition of his contribution to the Ottawa poetry community.