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Flowerings Highlights 2024

In 2024, our Flowerings grant from the Mellon Foundation provided much-needed and transformative support for the fourth decennial Furious Flower conference in Harrisonburg, Virginia. A new website and extensive media coverage ensured wide marketing and outreach. Professional videography and cutting-edge archival processes enabled the description and preservation of conference footage in record time, with public access soon to follow. All four grant-funded positions played critical roles with excellence and heart. Students’ and teachers’ engagement is one of many ways the conference and its audiovisual record will have a generational effect on global poetry communities. Grant funding also supported a robust suite of Center activities earlier in the year, as well as further development and practice of our reparative and integrated model for library support of a living, academic center for the arts.

Vibrant activity continues to be supported by the Flowerings grant in 2025, as we anticipate the public availability of 1994 and 2024 conference videos along with additional pedagogical activity and engagement with poets, poetry scholars, and students.

Furious Flower IV: Worlds of Black Poetry

A large audience assembling in the Festival Grand Ballroom for the Furious Flower Conference
Close up of a large audience at the Furious Flower Conference
Three women, one holding an inscribed glass award, stand in front of a red curtain
Dr. Joanne Gabbin and Dr. Lauren Alleyne present Dr. Elizabeth Alexander with a Lifetime Achievement Award on stage at the Furious Flower Conference
Photo Credits (clockwise): Steve Aderton, Christopher Timothy, Rachel Holderman

The Furious Flower IV: Worlds of Black Poetry conference was truly a conversation across continents. 903 registrations, an estimated 750 attendees. 130 volunteers. 8 sets of concurrent sessions for a total of 75+ panels of scholars, poets, and community.  And a Finale Concert with none other than Brittney Spencer!

Special events included:

  • James Madison University College of Education presents Teaching the Worlds of Black Poetry to High School Students
  • Lifetime Achievement Awards Banquet co-hosted by jessica Care moore and Tony Medina.
  • The Worlds of Black Poetry: Critical Portals, Pathways, and Emergences
  • Laureate Reading and Conversation
  • Elizabeth Alexander & Kwame Dawes Keynote Reading and Conversation
  • Art exhibits Exploring Black Artistic Constellations and Worlds Within and Without: An Exhibition of Contemporary Black Art, underwritten in part by the Art Bridges Foundation
  • Curated interviews with groups of poets (to be released as an online series), conceptualized and actualized by the Furious Flower Advisory Board.

We worked with agencies and individual poets to confirm a stylistically and geographically diverse group of 50 renowned featured poets and scholars, including MacArthur Genius awardees, Pulitzer Prize winners, and National Book Award winners. Dr. Gbenga Adesina curated a virtual global showcase that featured 14 Black poets from 10 different countries

Thanks to the Mellon Foundation Flowerings grant, we were able to support professional audiovisual recording of the main conference events and coordinate volunteers to record a wide array of concurrent sessions and performances. Digital Archivist Layne Carpenter provided videography and metadata recorder volunteers (almost 40 individuals) training and equipment. Volunteers were passionate about the work and often connected with poets during the sessions. Layne and other Libraries faculty and staff also tested digital curation workflows and worked with professional videographers to ensure proper file formats.

Thanks to these efforts, within two months of the conference, the digital curation team composed of representatives from the Libraries’ Digital Scholarship and Distinctive Collections and Data & Scholarly Communications departments received all needed files from the professionals, created preliminary records in ArchivesSpace, created preservation and access copies in Preservica, and are now working to make recordings accessible in Aviary. Libraries’ Metadata Strategies team is creating/enhancing authority records. Audiovisual recordings from the concurrent sessions (filmed by volunteers) are with Furious Flower for their review.

Conference highlights and key moments can be found on Furious Flower’s YouTube channel, and the conference podcast series featuring Lifetime Achievement Awardees is available on SoundCloud thanks to a special collaboration with In Good Reason.

Conference Marketing, Promotion, and Press Releases

Our conference marketing and promotion campaign was launched one year prior to the event with a dedicated website built by the FFPC Communications and Marketing Specialist, a position funded by the Mellon Foundation. The Center published digital and print advertisements in major venues such as the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Poets & Writers, Insight Into Diversity and in-person at relevant conferences.  With assistance from University Marketing, we developed a trailer, which launched in January, and ran a robust social media campaign on Facebook, X, and Instagram. The final CFP was widely disseminated on our website, social media, and a variety of external listservs, ultimately yielding over 200 submissions, from which 72 concurrent panels were constructed.  The conference attracted external attention in the following press releases:

The Flowerings Framework: A Living Model

Libraries and Furious Flower continued to develop and practice the reparative and integrated model set forth in the Flowerings Framework we established with help from our Mellon planning grant. This included

  • Progress on our renovation and expansion of Carrier Library and plans for the Center’s move into Carrier
  • Service on Conference Steering Committee by two Libraries faculty (Flowerings Coordinator, director of Data & Scholarly Communications) and significant investment of Libraries sponsorship funds in meeting conference needs
  • Several Libraries teams coordinated to support use of Rose Library for the conference
  • “Celebrating the Worlds of Black Poetry” Book display in Rose Library, September 2024. Selected by Brian Flota in partnership with the Center
  • Libraries-wide drop-in event to share reflections about the conference and communicate updates about the audiovisual work
  • JMU librarians and archivists volunteering at the Furious Flower exhibit hall booth at the AWP Conference
  • Prior work with the AudiAnnotate project positioned us to engage with the follow-up project, AVAnnotate. Joining a cohort of institutions using Aviary for this purpose has also provided an opportunity to contribute to best practices around creator rights, the agency of the poet, and ethical annotation.

Furious Flower Collections: Archival and Preservation Processing

Over the course of 2024, JMU Libraries digital curation team members were able to make all of the recordings from the 1994 Furious Flower conference available in our AV repository, Aviary. While there continue to be minor issues with syncing metadata, users can now learn about the collections and videos through ArchivesSpace.

Screenshot of JMU's ArchivesSpace showing the Finding Aid and a video thumbnail that links to the Aviary audiovisual platform

Based on the workflows and procedures established while working through the 1994 conference materials, team members were able to quickly ingest 2024 conference materials into our preservation system (Preservica). Once the materials are described in ArchivesSpace, we will be able to quickly make them available in Aviary.

We continue to tweak cross-departmental workflows in order to optimize how we track the stages of processing and responsibilities for the work. Team members have been discussing how the Furious Flower workflow could be applied to other born-digital collections and have chosen some collections for testing application of the processes that we developed more broadly.

We continue to navigate issues with our system integrations and are looking forward to unveiling Aviary for broader use in 2025.

Carrier Library Renovation and Construction

The Carrier Library renovation and construction project includes a dedicated space for the Furious Flower Poetry Center. The Flowerings Framework funded by our planning grant from the Mellon Foundation has continued to support our partnership during meetings and site visits to prepare for move-in in Fall 2026! 

Sun streaming through large windows casts shadows on the floor of office space under construction with visible mechanical systems
Furious Flower Poetry Center’s new office spaces under construction in Carrier Library.
Photo Credit: Andrew J. Strack / JMU Libraries

Instructional and Pedagogical Engagement

More than 100 students attended the Furious Flower conference, many as part of course assignments related to Black poetry and scholarship. Courses at JMU with direct engagement included:

  • Survey of African American Literature (general education course, English)
  • The Worlds of Black Poetry (undergraduate course, English)
  • Black Poetry Extravaganza (graduate course, English)
  • High School English Methods (graduate course, Education)
  • Research Methods for Program Evaluation (graduate course, public administration)

Many students volunteered at the conference, collecting metadata for the archives, moderating panels, reading criticism and poetry, and writing seminar papers on attending poets. Two students will present their papers at conferences in 2025. The High School English Methods students attended the Furious Flower IV Conference in search of the perfect poem to teach to high school students. Once they found a poem, they wrote lesson plans, peer taught to each other, revised lessons and submitted. One student taught her lesson in a high school practicum. Graduate students in the program evaluation class conducted a survey  evaluation of the conference.

A few quotes from students in the Survey of African American Literature course illustrate the conference’s transformative effects:

  • “I noticed throughout the event how different all of the poetry was, some celebrated everyday joys, while others tackled addiction, sickness, inner personalities, and activism. …  The poets at the Furious Flower Conference, much like the Harlem Renaissance writers, were using their art to defy expectations and create something new”
  • “While attending the furious flower I learned the beauty and power words hold. Although I knew these things beforehand, the way the authors used them was beyond what I had assumed. I sat in awe at the way they had such powerful messages with their storytelling. … Really listening to the words shows struggle and sadness but sometimes happiness. It all was a roller coaster of emotions that left me speechless”
  • “I’ve only ever been to one other conference before and it was a Geology conference. I had no idea what I was walking into and was amazed, it truly was nothing I’ve ever seen before. … Beautiful, emotional, deep, breathtaking, informative. I’m really glad I could see these wonderful poets in person and listen to their messages.”

In the undergraduate course, “Worlds of Black Poetry,” students were introduced to works by poets from five countries and three continents four weeks prior to the conference, then attended the conference and encountered the poets themselves at the conference, wrote reflections, and gave class presentations.  Some quotes from students’ reflections:

  • “The main lesson I gained from this conference is how important the complexity of one’s writing journey is, and that every poet must strike for excellence, struggle, and flourish to produce a masterpiece … it is okay to not feel as if poetry is easy, because the beauty of it can be found in the struggle to reach it.”- public administration major
  • “When the conference ended, I looked back at the atmosphere of love throughout the weekend. How people who have never met could become connected because of a couple of lines of poetry. How poetry is not just a thing people do, not just writing on a page or reading to an audience but it is a lifestyle. That poetry is not a language that needs to be learnt because it is already inside the heart of every person.” – international business major
  • It just made me so happy that I got to hear so many poems in so many different languages. … My goal is to become a teacher and so I’ll have to teach students from many different backgrounds. The event showed me there are many ways that we as humans can connect to each other. We don’t have to speak the same language to be connected.” – elementary education major 

On the first day of the conference, five poets (Dr. DaMaris Hill, Dr. Raina J. Leon, Dr. Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Glenis Redmond, and Derrick Weston Brown), visited the JMU College of Education to read recent works of poetry to high school students, teachers, and scholars. Harrisonburg and Rocktown High School students then participated in writing workshops led by these poets, creating their own poetic works which were shared at a luncheon with additional visiting teachers, scholars, and poets. In 2024, the Furious Flower Syllabus project cohort members and team presented projects at the College Language Association,1 Virginia Association for Teachers of English,2 the National Council of Teachers of English,3 The Write Time podcast (April 25), the Austin African American Book Festival, and at the Furious Flower IV: Worlds of Black Poetry. One of the cohort members created a class around the syllabus at Hugo House, the Seattle mainstay for poetry, and in April, the project was awarded a 2025 Divergent Award for Excellence in Implementation of Literacy in a Digital Age. At JMU, a graduate course in high school English methods engaged with Furious Flower collections as part of a lesson plan assignment. As of the end of 2024, the syllabus project had 1,867 unique visitors and 7,808 views. Press releases about the project included:

  1. Melton, M.E., Abdullah-Mattah, A., Wilson, L. L., Wooley, D., Dye, A. (2024, April). The Furious Flower Syllabus Project: Opening the World of Black Poetry [Conference session]. College Language Association, Memphis, TN. ↩︎
  2. Cancienne, M.B., Phelps, K., Shanks, L. (2024, October). The Furious Flower Syllabus: Opening The Worlds of Black Poetry to Middle and High School Students [Conference session]. Virginia Association of Teachers of English, Harrisonburg, VA. ↩︎
  3. Wooley, D., Cancienne, M.B., Wallace, I., Hannon, B., Hendrix, TJ. (2024, November). Opening our classrooms to the world of Black poetry: Lessons from the #FuriousFlowerSyllabus [Conference session]. National Council of Teachers of English Conference, Boston, MA. ↩︎

Programming, Events, and Communications

Furious Flower maintained a full Spring schedule of regular programming including student gatherings, “First Friday” exhibit openings, class visits, poetry readings, and on and off-campus workshops. Excellent attendance was supported by an active and timely schedule of social media, press releases, and advertising.

Distinguished poets read as part of the Furious Flower Reading Series:

Additionally, the Furious Flower Broadside Collection, Gallery Exhibits, and First Friday Receptionshosted over 180 visitors to the Center’s broadside gallery via individual and class visits and First Friday Receptions (held as part of the Arts Council of the Valley).

The broadsides collection currently holds 153 works of Black poets, many of them signed and limited editions. First Friday broadside exhibits and receptions will continue into 2025!

2024 was also the biggest year for the Furious Flower Poetry Prize, judged by the award-winning poet Roger Reeves, who selected Michelle Alexander and RaeJeana Brooks as the winner and honorable mention. A June 18th press release captures the excitement: “Furious Flower Poetry Center Announces Winners of 2024 Furious Flower Poetry Prize.”

The Center also hosted two undergraduate students in the Carmen R. Gillespie fellowship, Taylor Nauflett and India Williams. Over the course of the year they assisted with Center activities, did independent and mentored reading and research, and completed their respective projects (workshops with international non-English-speaking students and a chapbook of poetry by JMU students).

Publications, Press, and Appearances

Furious Flower was selected as a Featured Literary Partner at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs for the first time, and presented the feature event “Furious Flower Presents Nikky Finney, Anastacia-Reneé, and Malika Booker” to several hundred attendees. The Center also convened a well-attended AWP panel celebrating thirty years of Furious Flower, and a reception co-hosted by Wintergreen Women Writers Collective and the Black Archives of Mid-America featuring a panel including JMU Libraries faculty speaking about the collections.

In 2024, FFPC continued to publish The Fight and the Fiddle: Spring 2024 (Safia Elhillo); Summer 2024 (Samantha Thornhill); Fall 2024 (Shane McCrae); Winter 2024 (Erica Hunt).  The journal had 8,497 views and 5,337 unique visitors between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

The Center was also selected as one of 54 grantees from more than 200 grant applications to the Poetry Foundation for a $40,000 award to support the Center’s programming, as described in press releases from JMU, the Daily News-Record, and Rocktown Now. 

Center faculty and staff also engaged as practicing artists and writers, and scholars in their own right:

Lauren K. Alleyne,
Executive Director

Poetry Publications:

  • “Catalog of What We Attempt to Survive,” The Brooklyn Rail, July 2024.
  • “Douen,” Poemhood: Our Black Revival, Harper Collins, January 2024.

Interviews:

  • “Rehearsing the “What if”: An Interview with Erica Hunt,” March 2024.

Conferences, Presentations & Readings

  • Poetry reader (with Leona Sevick), New Dominion Bookshop, Charlottesville, VA June 2024.
  • Featured Reader, CFK Poetics Series, College of the Florida Keys, Key West, FL. April 2024.
  • Poetry Reader, Off the Chain! Cave Canem Fellows Reading; Moderator, “Celebrating Thirty Years of Furious Flower” & Moderator, “Furious Flower Presents Nikky Finney, Anastacia Reneé and Malika Booker,” Associated Writers and Writing Programs, Kansas City, MO. February 2024.
  • Virtual Speaker (Dr. Jeanine Pitas’ class), St. Vincent College, Pittsburg, VA, February 2024.

Gbenga Adesina,
Mellon Fellow for Global and Diaspora Studies

  • Published in Paris Review weekly newsletter
  • Published “The People’s History of 1998” in Paris Review Spring 2024 issue.
  • Published “Paradise” in Split This Rock, May 2024.
  • Published “Ecological Ruptures and the Reconstruction of Paradise in Safia Elhillo’s Poetry,” The Fight & The Fiddle, Summer 2024.
  • Presented “The Magnitude of Home: Elusive Citizenship, Memory, and the Interior Life of Diasporic Flights” at JMU Africana Studies Workshop.
  • Curated Furious Flower Broadside Gallery Exhibit, “Home: Place, Flight & Memory.”
  • Defended dissertation and earned PhD from University of Florida.

Megan Medeiros,
Marketing and Communications Specialist

  • Organized community event to support local art and artists that provides a free opportunity for them to sell their work: Daily Fiber Crafts & Three Notch’d Brewery Arts & Music Festival 
  • Artist of the month for crochet tapestries at Friendly City Co-Op titled “What Are We to Rocks & Mountains” 
  • Artist of the month for crochet tapestries at Three Notch’d Brewery titled “Cartoons Are for Kids!”

Furious Flower Students

India Williams, Carmen Gillespie Fellow graduated JMU with BA in English, was accepted to Masters program in Education at Virginia Commonwealth University, and was awarded the JMU English Department prize for Excellence in the Study of African American Literature. Taylor Nauflett, Carmen Gillespie Fellow graduated JMU with BASc in International Affairs and was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to Uzbekistan. Student employee Lindsay Mitchell graduated from JMU with BA in English, was accepted to the Masters program in English at UNC Wilmington, and was awarded English Department prize for Excellence in the Study of World Literature.

Furious Flower Partners

  • Bethany Nowviskie presented “The Flowerings Framework: Tending the Data that Mend Us” at the Mellon Sawyer Seminar at Stanford, “The Data That Divide Us,” January 11.
  • Caitlin Birch, Layne Carpenter, and Brian Flota presented “Preservation as Portal to Poetry” at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference, Kansas City, MO, February 7-10, 2024.   
  • Mark Lane, Bodeene Amyot Cairdeas, Rebecca B French, and Galen Talis presented “[Re]Thinking Digital Infrastructure: Centering Humans in Integrated Systems Work” at the code4lib conference, May 13.  
  • Libraries and Furious Flower participated in an AV Annotate symposium  to “produce best-practice guidelines that address complex issues surrounding AV access and labor, ownership, privacy, privilege, and representation, among other concerns.” James Madison University, Washington, DC, August 4-5, 2024. Lauren Alleyne, Yasmeen Shorish, and Bethany Nowviskie presented, “The JMU Flowerings Project: AV Annotation in the Context of a ‘Living Archives’”
  • Layne Carpenter and Bodeene Amyot Cairdeas presented their poster, “Sustainable Curation: Preserving the Furious Flower Poetry Center Conference Recordings” at the Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting in Chicago, August 15-17. 
  • Galen Talis (writing as Jody Fagan) published the short review “Furious Flower Poetry Center.” Public Services Quarterly 20(1): 61.

Questions?

Contact Galen Talis, project coordinator (talisgj@jmu.edu)