Furious Flower Poetry Center Brings International Award-Winning Poet, Malika Booker to Harrisonburg

British-Caribbean poet, Malika Booker, visited Harrisonburg and James Madison University at the end of September as part of the Furious Flower Poetry Center’s Reading Series. Booker, an international writer whose work is steeped in anthropological research methodology and rooted in storytelling, has published poetry, as well as creative writing for theater, installation and education.

Booker started her visit with a workshop for JMU’s faculty and staff where she introduced the ghazal, a poetic form with Arabic origins that consists of complete couplets that each end with a repeated word or phrase, among other elements. Attendees were from a wide variety of disciplines including Integrated Sciences and Technology (ISAT), the Department of Foreign Languages, JMU Libraries, and the School of Music, among others. The workshop focused on a primer on the poetic form, allowing writers to practice creating within the confines of a set structure.

“People usually think form is restrictive, but it can actually be freeing. The container can be a beautiful thing. You start to see how the forms help you,” Booker told the group.

After the workshop, Emily York, assistant professor in JMU’s ISAT program reflected that she “really appreciate[d] [the] whole workshop for reminding [her] that writing and being a writer can be playful, not just serious.” 

During her visit, Booker also visited a variety of local high schools and middle schools as part of Furious Flower’s collaboration with Any Given Child, an organization in a community partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Education Department in Washington D.C. Booker engaged students in writing workshops, coordinated by Any Given Child director, J.R. Snow. 

Wren Hamner, a freshman at Harrisonburg High School, said it was “really interesting” to have a real, published poet visit the school.

“Originally I didn’t think I was going to be able to go to the workshop because I had theater, but we went as a class because our theater teacher didn’t want us to miss the opportunity, and I was really grateful,” Hamner said. “I plan to integrate the brain dump method writing starter [Booker used] into my writing routine. It made pursuing writing as a career potentially less faraway and hypothetical to have someone who had made their career writing [be there]; it meant a lot to me to see that.”

Hamner came to Booker’s reading a few days later at The Golden Pony and participated in the open mic with college students and adults, which Booker later said was the highlight of her trip. Hamner said they didn’t know the open mic was taking place before the reading and was encouraged by L. Renée, assistant director of Furious Flower Poetry Center, to share their work in a space that would be safe.

“My general philosophy to combat my anxiety is that even if something does go badly, it’ll make a good story, and eventually everyone will forget about it, and she unintentionally brought out that belief of mine. I thought it would be a good experience, but I think I would have been more hesitant to sign up had I not been encouraged. [...] I am glad I shared what I did,” Hamner said.

Booker also held a student workshop at JMU, sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Student Services (CMSS) and Word is Born, a student organization for writers advised by Furious Flower Poetry Center. Many of the students at the workshop also participated in the open mic portion of Booker’s reading at The Golden Pony.

Booker concluded her stay in Harrisonburg with a reading and open mic at The Golden Pony on September 29. This event drew a large crowd of more than 150 people in the lower level of the eatery, including students, faculty members, poets, and members of the community. Shared work during the open mic ranged from themes on identity, survival, and body positivity to a moment for laughter exercises and kind affirmations with neighbors. The reading portion of the event was also livestreamed on Furious Flower’s Facebook page and was later uploaded to the center’s YouTube channel.

Booker’s week-long stay was made possible by a grant Furious Flower received from The Academy of American Poets in cooperation with the Amazon Literary Partnership. It was the first of many events this year with international poets, reaffirming Executive Director Lauren K. Alleyne’s mission to expand the global reach and focus of Furious Flower Poetry Center.

To keep up-to-date with all of Furious Flower’s events for the year, visit our webpage or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat.