Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University is back with another open mic and poetry reading at The Golden Pony on October 26!
Established in 1994, Furious Flower was the nation’s first academic center for Black poetry. Since, it has helped cultivate creativity and community amongst writers, scholars and poetry lovers all over.
This Thursday, Oct. 26, Furious Flower returns with an open mic and poetry reading at The Golden Pony.
Safia Elhillo, the featured poet, is the author of “The January Children” (University of Nebraska Press), which received the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets and an Arab American Book Award, “Girls that Never Die” (One World/Random House), and the novel in verse “Home is Not a Country” (Make Me A World/Random House), which was longlisted for the National Book Award and received a Coretta Scott King Book Award Author Honor. With Fatimah Asghar, she is co-editor of the anthology “Halal If You Hear Me” (Haymarket Books).
The open mic will start at 6:30 p.m., followed by Safia Elhillo’s reading at 7:30 p.m. If you would like to participate in the open mic, please arrive by 6 p.m., as space is limited. The reading portion of the event will be livestreamed on Facebook and uploaded to Furious Flower’s YouTube channel.
In addition to the event at The Golden Pony, Elhillo will be visiting two local middle schools as part of an ongoing partnership between Furious Flower and Any Given Child Shenandoah Valley. She will also be providing a workshop with JMU students through Word is Born Writers’ Society, a club in partnership with Furious Flower that promotes a culture of creative writing at JMU, providing opportunities for students to develop their skills in all forms of literary expression, and a workshop for JMU’s faculty and staff. For more details on these programs, contact Furious Flower Poetry Center.
