Saturday October 1, 1994

This is an interactive version of the original 1994 Furious Flower Poetry Conference program, altered only to account for last-minute changes to the schedule. Although the concurrent sessions and a few other events were not filmed, you can use this program to experience most of the conference as it originally unfolded. You can also access the original program by clicking the button below.

Book Exhibit

8:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M. (Taylor Hall)

Registration

8:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. (Taylor Hall Lounge)

Signature Party

8:30 A.M. – 9:15 A.M. (Taylor Hall Lounge)

Critics’ Roundtable: Writing a Literary History of African American Poetry

9:30 A.M. – 11:30 A.M. (Grafton-Stovall Theater)

As the drum stands at the crossroads of traditional African and African American culture, so the poets stand at the center of the drum providing the cadence, connections and continuity that define their literary history.

-Eugene Redmond

Lunch on Own

11:30 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.

Impromptu Poetry Slam for Younger Poets

12:30 P.M. – 1:30 P.M. (Grafton-Stovall Theater)

If everyone would gather, we’re going to have anyone interested read two poems and introduce themselves. We’re also going to start the first annual Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Contest…and hopefully that will become an annual event. So I hope to see you all at 12:30!

-Carmen Gillespie

Poetry Reading

2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. (Grafton-Stovall Theater)

I have just been so overwhelmed with all the goodness and love that has been extended over the past few days, that I’m going to read to you poems about the power of love. I’d like to dedicate this reading to a six-year old girl who was told that her mother was dying of cancer, that her mother was going to become an angel; and this little girl decided that she wanted to be an angel too.

-Jacqueline Brice-Finch

The Dark Room Collective: A Fisted Reading

4:15 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. (Grafton-Stovall Theater)

In the African-American community, there has been a long tradition of poets for whom success and fame have not been viewed as an opportunity to escape into some ivory tower away from the masses, where they can leisurely bask in exclusivity and elitism and cliquishness. No, rather for our major poets…success and fame have been an opportunity to give something back to their community… For them, the key words have been “pass it on,” “put something back,” “open doors.”

-Daryl Dance

Dinner on Own

5:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.

Conference Finale

8:00 P.M. – 10:00 P.M. (Wilson Hall)

It’s so appropriate to hear the song “Unforgettable” as I came to this stage, because this has truly been an unforgettable experience, and this conference finale…represents the ending to what has been an incredible experience.

-Byron Bullock