Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora will host a conversation with poets Aurielle Marie, Jennifer Bartell, and L. Renée.
Revel: Celebrating the Furious Flower Poetry Prize will be at 6 p.m. (CT) Thursday, February 23, online. Those interested in attendance can RSVP on the Obsidian website.
The Obsidian platform celebrates artistic excellence in the African diaspora. Drawing attendance across the globe, #ObsidianVoices provides a space to gather online in celebration of Black literature and arts.
The February 23 #ObsidianVoices event will include readings and dialogue with Aurielle Marie, the winner of the Furious Flower Poetry Prize, and Bartell, honorable mention of the prize, moderated by L. Renée.
Award-winning poet, essayist, and cultural strategist Aurielle Marie (they/she) is a Black queer storyteller, political organizer, and child of the Deep South by way of Atlanta. They earned their bachelor’s degree in social justice strategy and hip-hop theory from Evergreen State College. Aurielle Marie’s poetry debut, Gumbo Ya Ya, is the recipient of both the 2020 Cave Canem Prize and the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poet.
Bartell serves as the Poet Laureate of Columbia, South Carolina. Originally from Bluefield, a Black community in Johnsonville, South Carolina, she writes poetry and nonfiction and teaches in Columbia, S.C. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, in English literature and creative writing, and an MFA in creative writing with a focus in poetry from the University of South Carolina. A former journalist, Bartell inspires young writers as a teacher of English. Her debut book of poetry, Traveling Mercy, will be published later this year.
Fusing both the creative and various modes of the historical, L. Renée writes about Blackness, Appalachian culture, and the joys and complications of inheritance. Her work, nominated for Best New Poets, Best of the Net, and a Pushcart Prize, has been published in Tin House Online, Obsidian, Poet Lore, the minnesota review, Southern Humanities Review, Water~Stone Review, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the international 2022 Rattle Poetry Prize, Indiana University Guy Lemmon Award in Public Writing, Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Alumni Award, Appalachian Review’s Denny C. Plattner Award, 2021 Rattle Poetry Prize finalist, and second place for PLUCK! The Journal of Afrilachian Arts & Culture and New Limestone Review’s Crystal Wilkinson Creative Writing Prize.
Those with questions can contact Managing Editor Tara Reeser at tareeser@obsidianlit.org. Find out more about Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora.
