Furious Flower Poetry Center to host conference to celebrate Black ...
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - The Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University recently received a $40,000 grant to support its efforts to increase access to Black poetry in the community.
The Poetry Foundation cited JMU as one of 54 organizations it deemed worthy of receiving the grant due to its continued dedication to promoting Black poetry and uplifting poets across the world.
A majority of the funding from the grant will go toward this year’s Furious Flower Poetry Conference, a decennial event started in 1994 and hosted by JMU that gathers writers and poets from across the world to explore trends in Black literature, culture and thought and publish a volume of poetry to commemorate each conference. The theme of this year’s conference will be “Celebrating the Worlds of Black Poetry” and will honor poets Kwame Dawes and Elizabeth Alexander.
“What this grant does for us is really allow us to inhabit, engage and activate our mission, which is to educate folks about Black poetry and Black poets,” said Lauren K. Alleyne, executive director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center. “$40,000 goes a long way to doing that good work.”
The fourth Furious Flower Poetry Conference will run from September 18-21 on the campus of James Madison University and will include open mic sessions, interviews, roundtable discussions and readings from poets from across the world. Portions of the event will be open to the public.
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