The nation's first academic center for Black poetry, Furious Flower was established on the James Madison University campus to serve creative writers, literary and cultural scholars, and poetry lovers everywhere.

Winner

Martins Deep is a photographer, digital artist and poet. His work has appeared in Magma Poetry, Strange Horizons, december, Palette Poetry, Frontier Poetry, among others. He serves as a poetry editor for The Pinch Journal and is currently pursuing an MFA at the University of Memphis, Tennessee. Follow him on X @martinsdeep1.

Honorable Mention

Ian-Khara Ellasante (they/them) is a Black, queer, gender-infinite parent, poet, and cultural studies scholar. Ian-Khara’s poetry has appeared in We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, Pipe Wrench, The Feminist Wire, Nat. Brut, Hinchas de Poesía, The Volta, Writing the Land: Maine, From Root to Seed: Black, Brown, and Indigenous Writers Write the Northeast, and RHINO. Ian-Khara is a Cave Canem fellow, recipient of the New Millennium Award for Poetry, and finalist for the National Poetry Series 2024 competition. Their critical writing, including the essay “Dear Trans Studies, Can You Do Love?,” has appeared in Transgender Studies Quarterly, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Families in Society. Proudly hailing from Memphis, Ian-Khara has also loved living and writing in Tucson, Brooklyn, and now southern Maine, where they teach Gender and Sexuality Studies and Africana at Bates College.

In Case You Missed It: You can still be a part of the magic that was Furious Flower IV!

You can view the livestreamed events including the Magnitude & Bond panel, the 2024 Furious Flower Poetry Prize Reading, and the two Abundance: A Global Poetry Performance panels in this playlist found on our YouTube channel.

You can also listen to the companion podcast, Furious Flower IV: Worlds of Black Poetry, created in collaboration with With Good Reason on both Soundcloud and Apple Podcasts (linked above). New episodes drop every Wednesday through November 20. 

The galleries we co-sponsored also remain up in Lisanby, 150 Franklin St Gallery, and Union Galleries in Festival Student & Conference Center.