Lauren K. Alleyne is the author of two collections of poetry, Difficult Fruit (2014) and Honeyfish (2019), as well as co-editor of Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry (2020). Her work has appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, The Atlantic, Ms. Muse, Tin House, and The Caribbean Writer, among others. Her most recent honors include a 2020 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Poetry, the longlist for the 2020 Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, and the shortlist for the 2020 Library of Virginia Literary Awards. Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Alleyne currently resides in Harrisonburg, VA, where she is a professor of English at James Madison University, and the assistant director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center. Alleyne is concurrently pursuing her PhD in English with a focus on contemporary American and Anglophone Caribbean literatures, and has completed the Africana Studies certificate through the Carter G. Woodson Institute. Her critical reviews and articles are published or forthcoming in Anthurium, small axe, The Journal of West Indian Literature and Diaspora and Literary Studies (Cambridge Critical Concepts Series).

 

MFA, Cornell University, 2006

MA, Iowa State University, 2002

BA, St. Francis College, 2001

 

Difficult Fruit (Peepal Tree Press, 2014)

Honeyfish (New Issues/Western Michigan University Press & Peepal Tree Press, 2019)

 

African American and Caribbean poetry

Social justice and human rights in Literature