Furious Flower Poetry Prizes
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The Furious Flower Poetry Prize for emerging writers is open for submissions from December 15 to February 15 annually ($15 submission fee). Poets with no more than one published book are invited to submit up to three poems (no more than a total of 5 pages) for consideration. The winner and honorable mention receive $1000 and $500 respectively, and will be invited to read (virtually or in-person) as a part of the Furious Flower Reading Series. The winner, honorable mention, and select finalists will be also be published in Obsidian. Winners are announced in late March/early April. Visit this page in the fall for information about the upcoming prize, and to learn about previous winners! |
Congratulations to Aurielle Marie, winner of the 2021 Furious Flower Poetry Prize!
Winner: Aurielle Marie
Aurielle Marie is a Black, Atlanta-born, Queer poet, essayist, and social strategist. She was selected by Fatimah Asghar as the 2019 winner of the Ploughshares Emerging Writer Award, the 2019 winner of the Los Angeles Review Poetry Award, and the 2019 Lambda Literary Emerging Writer's Retreat Writer in Residence. She's received invitations to fellowships from the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for LGBTQ writers, Tin House, The Watering Hole, VONA Voices, and Kopkind Colony. Aurielle's essays and poems have been featured in or are forthcoming from The Guardian, TriQuarterly, Adroit Journal, Teen Vogue, The Florida Review, VINYL, BOAAT Magazine, Black Warrior Review, Essence, Allure, and the Huffington Post. Aurielle is the winner of the 2020 Cave Canem poetry prize.
Honorable Mention: Jennifer Bartell
Jennifer Bartell received the MFA in Poetry from the University of South Carolina. Her poetry and nonfiction has been published in Callaloo, PLUCK!, Blackberry, As/Us, Fall Lines, The Raleigh Review, Jasper Magazine, the museum americana, Limelight, Scalawag, and Kakalak, among others. An alumna of Agnes Scott College, Jennifer has fellowships from The Teachers Guild, Callaloo, and The Watering Hole. She teaches at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, where she was named the 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year. You can reach her online at www.jenniferbartellpoet.com.
Finalists:
Amanda Bennett
Ashunda Norris
Judge: Erica Hunt
Past Winners
2020
- Diamond Forde - Winner
- Nathan John - Honorable Mention
2019
- Rachelle Parker - Winner
- Cynthia Manick - Honorable Mention
Furious Flower Quarantine Kwansaba Contest
Furious Flower Poetry Contest for emerging creative writers in response to the COVID-19 quarantine.
Turning - Angel C. Dye
Quarantine Kwansaba Winning Poem, 2020
My panic does not move heaven so
I try turning instead; till terror into
verse, plant praise song and patient seeds
for what remains of spring. Breather- full,
deep. Drink salt- sweet to shed when
I weep, but I never wither. Intern;
turn inward, away from fear of still.
Finalists:
Glens Redmond, Believed to be the First Black Woman Photographed with a Typewriter, and Sherese Francis, Dream Conducts a Mother Tongue's Memory.
