Amber Flora Thomas was awarded the 2004 Cave Canem prize by Harryette Mullen for her manuscript, Eye of Water. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Washington University. She is the recipient of several poetry awards, including an Academy of American Poets prize, the 2004 Richard Peterson Prize, the 2001 Ann Stanford Poetry Prize and the Rella Lossy Poetry Award. Her work has appeared in Bellingham Review, Calyx, Gulf Coast, Rattle, The Laurel Review, Southern Poetry Review and Southern California Anthology, among other publications. She lives and works in northern California.