AUBURN – Anne D. Williams, leading American authority on jigsaw puzzles and professor of economics at Bates College, will be the featured speaker at the Auburn Art Club at 2 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 10, at the High Street Congregational Church.

Williams has a personal collection of some 9,000 jigsaw puzzles. She has curated puzzle exhibitions at the Auburn Public Library, Bates College, the Museum of National College Museum in Lexington, Mass., and the Katonah Museum of Art in New York.

Publications that have featured Williams and her puzzles are: Smithsonian, Country Home, Forbes, Yankee, Games, Americana, Readers Digest, the Boston Globe, the New York Times and the Washington Post. She has also appeared on national television and radio.

Williams is the author of “Jigsaw Puzzles: An Illustrated History and Price Guide” (1990), “Cutting a Fine Figure” (1996), “The Art of The Puzzle” (2000), and “The Jigsaw Puzzle: Piecing Together a History” (2004).

The book highlights some puzzlers of fame, from Queen Elizabeth to Stephen King.

Williams, like King, prefers the handcrafted wooden puzzles. These are the most complex and require great skill and craftsmanship since every piece is cut individually.

Program committee members are Chairwoman Melanie Ness, Jean Ness and Grace Keene.