Amanda Johnston | Spring 2022 | Vol. 5 Iss. 3
Poet, activist and arts administrator Amanda Johnston is founder of Torch Literary Arts, a non-profit dedicated to promoting and publishing the work of Black women writers, co-founder of Black Poets Speak Out, and former board president and retreat coordinator of Cave Canem. Johnston’s writing has been widely published in journals and anthologies such as Callaloo, Poetry, Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry, and Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism. She is author of the poetry collection, Another Way to Say Enter (Argus House Press, 2017)… READ MORE
A. Van Jordan | Winter 2022 | Vol. 5 Iss. 2
A. Van Jordan is the author of four collections of poetry: Rise, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, Quantam Lyrics, and The Cinaste. His most recent work is I Want to See My Skirt, a collaborative chapbook with Cauleen Smith. Jordan has received numerous accolades over the course of his career, including grants from the Whiting, PEN, Lannan and John Simon Guggenheim foundations, a United States Artists Fellow award, a Pushcart Prize, and an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, among others. READ MORE
Cyrus Cassells | Summer 2021 | Vol. 5 Iss. 1
Cyrus Cassells is a lauded poet, translator and cultural critic. His poetry has been recognized with honors including a Guggenheim fellowship, the National Poetry Series Prize, a Lambda Literary Award, a Lannan Literary Award, two NEA grants, a Pushcart Prize, and the William Carlos Williams Award. His collection The Gospel according to Wild Indigo (2018), was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award, and his 1994 collection Soul Make A Path Through Shouting, was nominated for the Pulitzer… READ MORE
Jaki Shelton Green | Spring 2021 | Vol 4. Iss. 4
Jaki Shelton Green is the first African American and third woman to be appointed as the North Carolina Poet Laureate. Her highly lauded work has earned her multiple recognitions, including the 2020 Shaw University Ella Baker Women Who Lead Award, 2020 St. Andrews University Fortner Award, 2020 Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing...READ MORE
Brenda Marie Osbey | Winter 2021 | Vol 4. Iss. 3
Brenda Marie Osbey is a poet, essayist, librettist and editor who works in English and French. Her seven books include All Souls: Essential Poems (Lousiana State University Press, 2015), History and Other Poems (Time Being Books, 2013) and the limited edition chapbook 1967 (William & Mary, 2018, 2019)… READ MORE
Nikki Giovanni | Fall 2020 | Vol 4 Iss. 2
Nikki Giovanni is a cultural and literary legend. She has received numerous awards for her work, including seven NAACP Image awards for poetry, the Langston Hughes Medal for poetry, The Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award … READ MORE
jessica Care moore | Summer 2020 | Vol 4 Iss. 1
jessica Care moore burst onto the poetry scene with a bang, winning the legendary “It’s Showtime at the Apollo” 5 times in a row with her poem “Black Statue of Liberty.” Since then, moore has gone on to… READ MORE
Matthew Shenoda | Winter/Spring 2020 | Vol. 3, Iss. 3
Award-winning poet Matthew Shenoda wears several hats. He is a professor and university administrator currently serving as Associate Provost for Social Equity and Inclusion, as well as Professor of Literary Arts and Studies at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) … READ MORE
Dominique Christina | Fall 2019 | Vol. 3, Iss. 2
When Dominique Christina stepped onto the poetry stage it was clear she was a force to be reckoned with. In her three years of performance she earned five national poetry slam titles … READ MORE
Nate Marshall | Summer 2019 | Vol. 3, Iss. 1
From his leading role in the much-acclaimed documentary Louder Than A Bomb, which chronicles the journey of four teams as they prepare to compete in a national poetry contest, to his work today … READ MORE
Tyehimba Jess | Spring 2019 | Vol. 2, Iss. 4
… author of two award-winning collections of poetry: Leadbelly (Wave Books, 2005), which was a National Poetry Series award winner, and Olio (Wave Books, 2017), which won … READ MORE
Marilyn Nelson | Winter 2019 | Vol. 2, Iss. 3
… author of more than 20 books — edited, translated, and written — Marilyn Nelson is, without question, a literary luminary. Her award-winning work speaks to a range of audiences … READ MORE
Kwame Dawes | Fall 2018 | Vol. 2, Iss. 2
… author and editor of more than 45 books of fiction, poetry, and criticism, Dawes is without doubt one of the most prolific writers of our time. He was born in Ghana, raised in Jamaica … READ MORE
Anastacia-Reneé | Summer 2018 | Vol. 2, Iss. 1
… current Civic Poet of Seattle, recipient of the 2017 Artist of the Year, and former 2015-2017 Poet-in-Residence at Richard Hugo House. Anastacia-Reneé is the author of two full-length collections … READ MORE
Yusef Komunyakaa | Spring 2018 | Vol. 1, Iss. 4
… Born in Bogalusa, Louisiana in 1947, Yusef Komunyakaa is a son of the South. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, an experience that infused his creative career. Since writing his first poem … READ MORE
Patricia Smith | Winter 2018 | Vol. 1, Iss. 3
… the prolific and powerful Patricia Smith, winner of a 2018 NAACP Image Award for her most recent collection, Incendiary Art. Author of ten books including Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah … READ MORE
Danez Smith | Fall 2017 | Vol. 1, Iss. 2
… poet and National Book Award Finalist Danez Smith. Smith is the author of the Lambda Award-winning [insert] Boy (YesYes Books, 2014), the chapbook Black Movie … READ MORE
Gregory Pardlo | Summer 2017 | Vol. 1, Iss. 1
In this first issue of the new series, The Fight & The Fiddle presents Pulitzer Prize winner Gregory Pardlo, whose wit, lyric intensity, fierce intelligence and sense of play all come to bear … READ MORE
The Fight & The Fiddle was originally conceived as an online literary magazine by Elizabeth Hoover, the Assistant Director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center from 2014 to 2016. Under her direction, the publication featured interviews with Reginald Dwayne Betts, Ross Gay, Yona Harvey, Dawn Lundy Martin, Nadine Pinede, and Karenne Wood. It included a special series on Amiri Baraka and Jayne Cortez as architects of the Black Arts Movement. To see these early entries, visit https://www.jmu.edu/furiousflower/fightandfiddle/
The Fight and The Fiddle 