Director, Furious Flower Poetry Center
alleynlx@jmu.edu
Contact Info
Assistant Director, Furious Flower Poetry Center
Office: Cardinal 104
Phone: (540) 568-2694
Education:
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Poetry), Jan. 2006
Graduate Certificate in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Aug. 2005
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Masters of Arts in English and Creative Writing, Dec. 2002
Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Bachelor of Arts in English, minor in Communication Arts (Magna Cum Laude, Honors), May 2001
St Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, NY
Biography:
Lauren K. Alleyne is the author of two collections of poetry, Difficult Fruit (2014) and Honeyfish (2019), as well as co-editor of Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry (2020). Her work has appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, The Atlantic, Ms. Muse, Tin House, and The Caribbean Writer, among others. Her most recent honors include a 2020 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Poetry, the longlist for the 2020 Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, and the shortlist for the 2020 Library of Virginia Literary Awards. Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Alleyne currently resides in Harrisonburg, VA, where she is a professor of English at James Madison University, and the executive director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center.
POETRY COLLECTIONS
Difficult Fruit, Peepal Tree Press, Leeds, UK. 2014
(Chapbook) Dawn in the Kaatskills. Longshore Press, Pittsburgh. 2008
EDITED VOLUMES
Gallery, The Dubuque Area Writers’ Guild Book Project, Dubuque 2011-2013
Telling Our Stories 2, The Social Justice Collective, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 2009
Before the Hospital: Qatar and the Tradition of Healing, with Autumn Watts, et. al., Qatar Foundation, 2008
From the Heart of Brooklyn, with Terry Quinn and Erin Bogart, Vivisphere, Poughkeepsie, 2002
POETRY PUBLICATIONS
“Poetry Workshop After the Verdict,” Resisting Arrest, March 2016
“A Gathering of Light,” The Grief Diaries, February 2016
“Ode to Fish-As-Weathervane” and “Elegy to Fish-As-Weathervane,” Women’s Review of Books, Jan 2016
“Madame X,” Feminist Wire, September 2015
“Poetry Workshop After the Verdict,” One, Issue 6, Summer 2015
“The Hoodie Stands Witness, and “Talking to the Dead,” Driftless Review, Issue 4 Winter/Spring 2015
“Gretel as Bard,” “Bedtime Story #1” Los Angeles Review, Vol. 16, Fall 2014
Excerpts from [Out], Knockout, Issue 5, Fall 2014
“How to Watch Your Son Die” and “Killed Boy Beautiful World,” Crab Orchard Review, Vol. 19 No1, 2014
“Those Among Us,” MiPoesia, April 2014
“Portal: Blue,” Folio, Vol29 Issue 1, 2014
“Post-Verdict Renga for Trayvon,” Los Angeles Review of Books, Winter 2014
“Eighteen,” Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual, 2014
“Fifteen,” Prairie Schooner, Vol. 87, No. 4, Winter 2013
“When the Angels Come,” DBQ Magazine, October 2013
Selected Poems, Unruly Catholic Women: Vol 2, SUNY, October 2013
Selected Poems, IthacaLit, June 2013
“Dear Christopher,” Naugatuck River Review, February 2013
“What Night Knows,” Thethepoemoftheweek, February 2013
“Silent Dances,” “Ode to Ghosts,” “Ten most sacred places,” About Place, August 2012
“Dear Autumn,” “If, Sky,” “Talking to the Dead,” G’NAT Magazine, July 2012
Selected Poems, Let Spirit Speak: Cultural Journeys through the African Diaspora, May 2012
“Little Birds,” “Why It Happened,” “The Face of It”, Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, August 2012
Selected poems,
“Small Graces: Poems” Small Axe V35, July 2011
“Love in B minor,” “To My Lover’s Partner,” and “The Place of No Dreams” Connotation Press, Nov. 2010
“18,” Split
“Grace Before Meals,” “John White Defends,”
“How it Touches Us,” Southward, (Ireland), Feb/Mar 2010
“Ghazal in Arms,” “When There’s Only You,” “Sky from the Ground” Cimarron Review, Vol 176, Dec 2010
“No Questions,” “On the day,” “The Illusion of Closure,” “Reunion,” “Bend, Bend” No Tell Motel, Sept. 2009
“Landlocked,” “Mama Remembers Mayaro,” Melusine or Woman in the 21st Century, Summer 2009
“Love Poem with the Cane Fields (His)/(Hers)” and “It is not Impossible,” The Drunken Boat, Fall 2008
“Origin,” “Discipline,” and “Resolution,” Temba Tupu! May, 2008
“Wedding Vow,” “Self Portrait,” and “Last Rite,” Torch, Spring 2008
“Origin,” “When Mom Found my Vibrator,” Kennesaw Review, May2007
“The Village Queen,” New Writing: A Journal of the Teaching and Practice of Writing, (UK) Vol 4:1, 2007
Selected Poems, From the Heart of Brooklyn: Volume 2, Dec, 2006
“On The Most Depressing Day of the Year,” Bellevue Literary Review, Fall 2006
“Ash Wednesday,” “Fear and Trembling,” “Veneration,” 2riverview, Summer 2006
“In a Maxi-Taxi On The Way Home From School,” Growing up Girl, April 2006
“Train Song,” Banyan Review, Spring 2006
“The Taste of Apples,” The Atlanta Review, Fall 2004; Gathering Ground, January 2006
“A Ghazal In Blue” & “No Body’s a Mystery” Black Arts Quarterly, Summer 2005
“Conversation” & “Little Longings,” Sexing The Political: A Feminist Journal of Sexuality, Vol. 3 Is 2, Sp 2004
“The Hardest Love Poem,” The Caribbean Writer Vol. 18, July 2004
“The Contract,” The Hampden Sydney Review, Spring 2004
“Desire,” Sexing The Political, Vol 3 Is 1, Spring 2003
“How to Speak of Home” The Caribbean Writer Vol. 17, July 2003
Selected Poems, From the Heart of Brooklyn (Dec, 2002)
“Untitled” and “Guilty,” Sexing The Political, Vol 2 Is 2, Fall 2002
“Where the Heart Is” Des Moines National Poetry Festival Chapbook, May 2002
NON-FICTION PUBLICATIONS
“Our Choices, Our Voices: Writing from within the War on Women” New York Arts Magazine, Dec 2012
“What Women Wear” Crab Orchard Review, Fall 2009
“A Grab Won’t Cure My Feminism” Sexing The Political, 2003; Women’s Studies Quarterly, Fall 2007
“How To Leave Home” The Moveable Nest: A
“Options for International Grads,” “How to be a Teaching Assistant,” Egrad.com, Spring 2001
FICTION PUBLICATIONS:
“The Way the Body Goes” Guernica, Dec 2012
“The Boy Who Lived in a Glass House” Redbook, Dec 2010
INTERVIEW PUBLICATIONS:
“Shaping the World: An Interview with Toi Derricotte,” Femmeilterate, March 2016
“Making a Monstress: An Interview with Marjorie Liu,” Guernica, February 2016
“Seeding and Rooting the Writing Life: An Interview with Mary Swander,” Femmeliterate, October 2015
“Tending the Writerly Self: An Interview with Tracy K. Smith,” Femmeliterate, August 2015
“Salvaged Crossings: An Interview with
“Does Truth Have a Tone? An Interview with Jamaica Kincaid” Guernica, June 2013
GRANTS, RESIDENCIES & AWARDS:
Winner, Split This Rock Poetry Prize, 2016
IthacaLit Journal establishes Lauren K. Alleyne/Difficult Fruit Poetry Prize, 2015
Picador Guest Professor, University of Leipzig, 2015
Iowa Arts Fellowship ($5000), Iowa Arts Council, 2014
John Stewart Research Award, University of Dubuque 2014
Finalist, Richard Peterson Poetry Prize, 2013
Edna Clarke Payne Fellow, A Room Of Her Own Foundation, 2013
Archie D. and Bertha H. Walker Scholarship, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, 2013
Third Place, Split This Rock Poetry Contest, 2012
Finalist, Naugatuck River Review Narrative Poetry Contest, 2012
Second place winner, Iowa Poetry Society Prize, 2012
First Runner Up, Cave Canem Poetry Prize, 2011
Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prize, 2009, 2011
First place winner, Small Axe Literary Contest—Poetry, 2010
Runner up, O’Donoghue Poetry Prize, Munster Literature Centre, Ireland, 2010
Finalist and Semi-finalist, Reginald Shepherd Memorial Poetry Prize, 2009
Saltonstall Artist Colony Fellow, June 2009
Yaddo Fellow, May 2009
Faculty Grant, Center for Teaching and Learning, Hobart and William Smith Colleges ($1500), 2008
Work Fellow, Colrain Manuscript Conference, August 2008
Callaloo Writers Workshop participant, July 2008
Lester Lennon Scholarship Recipient, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, June 2008
Resident Poet, Jentel Artist Residency, May 2008
Qatar Foundation Undergraduate Research Experience Program Grant ($30,000), 2007
Robert Chasen Graduate Poetry Prize, Cornell, 2005
International Poetry Publication Prize Winner, Atlanta Review, 2004
Summer Fellow, Cave Canem Poetry Workshop, 2004, 2005, 2007
1st Place Winner, The Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Contest, 2003
CONFERENCES, PRESENTATIONS & READINGS
Dixie State University, St. George, UT 2015
Waldorf College, Forest City, IA 2015
Spectra Reading Series, Midwest Writing Center, Quad Cities 2015
Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, 2015
Erfurt University, Erfurt, Germany, 2015
Worlds Festival, Writers Centre, Norwich, England, 2015
Writing Workshops in Greece, Thasos, Greece, 2015
Ipek University, Ankara, Turkey, 2015
FLUX FM, Berlin 2015
Word on the Street Festival, London Metropolitan Archives, London, 2015
Bad Language, Manchester Library, Manchester, England, 2015
Picador Reading, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, 2015
The Gretel Project, University of Dubuque, Dubuque, IA, 2015
Women’s History Month Reading, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, 2015
Single Voice Reading Series, Alleghany College, Meadville, PA, 2015
Featured Presenter, Davenport PEO, Davenport, IA, 2015
The Poetry Circus, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
Observable Reading Series, St. Louis, MO, 2015
Decorous Art and Poetry, Des Moines, IA, 2015
Black Poets Speak Out, Indianapolis, IN, 2015
Wisconsin Book Festival, Madison, WI 2014
Caribbean Poetry w/ Linton Kwesi Johnson, NYU Institute of African American Affairs, New York, NY, 2014
louderARTS Featured reader, New York, NY, 2014
Women Writers in Bloom Featured Reader, New York, NY, 2014
Iowa City Book Festival, Iowa City, IA, 2014
Voices from the Warehouse, Dubuque, IA 2014
University of Wisconsin-Platteville, WI, 2014
Carnegie Stout Public Library, Dubuque, IA 2014
BOCAS Literary Festival, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 2014
Pebbles, Bread, Bone: Excerpts from The Gretel Project, Chicago, IL, 2014
Literary Encounters: A Conversation with Lauren K. Alleyne & Jamaica Kincaid, Brooklyn, NY, 2014
Briar Cliff University, Sioux City, IA, 2014
Concordia University, Chicago, IL, 2014
The Green Mill, Chicago, IL, 2014
Meramec Literary Festival, St Louis, MO, 2014
River Lights Book Store, Dubuque, IA, 2014
“Published! From Poetry Manuscript to First Book ,” AWP Writers Conference, Seattle, WA 2014
Interview on Art Talks with Bruce Carter, WVIK Augustana Public Radio, Quad Cities, IA Oct. 2013
“This is What a Word Can Give” A Room of Her Own Foundation, Abiquiu, NM 2013
Scales Mound High School, Scales Mound, IL 2013
Naugatuck River Review Prize Reading, AWP Writers Conference, Boston, MA, 2013
Cave Canem Fellows Reading, AWP Writers Conference, Boston, MA, 2013
Patricia Smith and Friends Poetry Extravaganza, Caleb poetry club, Cambridge, MA, 2013
A Love of Words,
Cave Canem Prize Reading, New York, NY October 2012
University of Dubuque Poet-in-Residence Reading Series, Dubuque, IA, September 2010, October 2011, 2012
Dubuque Area Writers Guild Reading, Dubuque, IA September 2012
Carnegie Stout Public Library, Dubuque, IA, April 2011
Word Cure Reading series, Dubuque, IA, August 2011
University of Missouri Summer Seminars in Greece, Serifos, Greece, July 2011
Poetry Society of America Lucille Clifton Commemoration, New York, NY,April 2010
Ars Poetica Exhibition and reading, Brooklyn, NY, March 2010
Torch: A Journal of African American Women’s Prose and Poetry Reading, Brooklyn, NY, November 2009
Joe Milford Poetry Show, www.joemilfordpoetryshow.com, July 2009
Saltonstall Open Studio Reading, Ithaca, NY, July 2009
Cornell 100+5 years of Writers Reading, Ithaca, NY, March 2009
Bowery Poetry Club, New York, NY, March 2009
440 Gallery Reading Series, Brooklyn, NY, November 2008
Hobart and William Smith Faculty Reading Series, Geneva, NY, October 2008
Jentel Presents, Sheridan, WY, June 2008
The Moveable Nest Mothers Day Reading, Cornelia Street Cafe, New York, NY May 2008
Chatham University Chapbook Launch and Readings, Pittsburgh, PA, April 2008
Interview on Out of Bounds radio show with Tish Pearlman, Ithaca, New York, October 2007
“Do Not Deny Me Anger: The Story of Dame Van Winkle,” Literary Lecture Series, Doha, Qatar, 2007
“The Language of Illness,” Literature and Medicine Roundtable, Literary Lecture Series, Doha, Qatar, 2007
“Transgressive Lyrics: Slam poetry and Calypso,” Cultures of Carnival Symposium, Ames, Iowa, 2005
“Slam Poetry with Team Ithaca,” Conference on Languages and Literatures, Cortland, New York, 2004
“Three Women: Plath, Poetry and Rhetoric,” Feminism and Rhetoric Conference, Columbus, Ohio, 2003
