November 2026
Furious Flower Reading Series Presents Amber Flora Thomas
Thursday, November 12th | 5:30PM | Gwendolyn Brooks Reading Room
Furious Flower’s final poetry reading before finals and the holiday season! Participants are invited to immerse themselves in the nature-inspired poetry of Amber Flora Thomas. The reading will take place in the Gwendolyn Brooks Reading Room at Carrier Library (Suite 2008), followed by a Q&A and book signing. This event is free and open to the public; free parking will be available across the street in the Grace Street Parking Garage.
Write 'Til the End: A Poetry Workshop with Amber Flora Thomas
Friday, November 13th | 12:00PM - 1:15PM | Gwendolyn Brooks Reading Room
The holiday break is almost here, and with it, the end of 2026! Wrap up your year with one more poetry workshop, featuring poet Amber Flora Thomas! This poetry workshop will take place on JMU's campus in the Gwendolyn Brooks Reading Room at Carrier Library on Friday, November 13, 12:00- 1:15 PM. All are welcome, though registration is advised. Free parking will be available in the Grace Street Parking Deck during the workshop.
Artist Bio:
Amber Flora Thomas is the author of three collections of poetry, including Eye of Water, which won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. A recipient of the Dylan Thomas American Poet Prize, the Richard Peterson Prize, and the Ann Stanford Prize, her poetry has appeared in Tin House, The New England Review, Callaloo, Orion Magazine, Saranac Review, and Alaska Quarterly Review, as well as Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry and Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry, and numerous other journals and anthologies. Thomas is a Cave Canem fellow and faculty member. She regularly teaches at the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference. She has received fellowships from Yaddo, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and Sewanee Writers Conference. She earned an MFA at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She was born and raised in northern California.
