Quincy Troupe
Poet, Performer, Editor and Professor
1939-

Quincy Troupe is the author of seventeen books, including eight volumes of poetry, the latest of which is The Architecture of Language, recipient of the 2007 Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement. He received the 2003 Milt Kessler Poetry Award for Transcircularities: New and Selected Poems (Coffee House Press, 2002), selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the ten best books of poetry published in 2002. Transcircularities was also a finalist for the 2003 Paterson Poetry Prize.

He is Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing and American and Caribbean Literature at the University of California, San Diego; the founding Editorial Director for Code Magazine; and former Artistic Director of “Artists on the Cutting Edge,” a reading and performance series held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. He was the first official Poet Laureate of the State of California, appointed by Governor Gray Davis. He is currently editor of Black Renaissance Noire, an academic, cultural, political and literary journal published by the Africana Studies Program and the Institute of African American Affairs at New York University.

Troupe has published his poetry, articles and essays in over 200 publications worldwide. His poetry and prose have been translated into Arabic, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, Danish, Portuguese, Czech, Russian, Polish, and Dutch. He has read his work throughout the USA, Europe, Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Brazil.

Troupe has taught at UCLA, Ohio University, The College of Staten Island (CUNY), the University of Ghana, Legon, Lagos University, Lagos, Nigeria, California State University, Sacramento, and in the Columbia University Graduate Writing Program.

Troupe is the recipient of two American Book Awards: in 1980 for poetry for his collection Snake-Back Solos (Reed and Cannon, 1990) and in non-fiction for Miles: The Autobiography (Simon & Schuster, 1989). In 1991 Troupe received the prestigious Peabody Award for co-producing and writing the radio series, The Miles Davis Radio Project broadcast in seven parts in 1990 and aired on National Public Radio. He is two-time winner of the Heavyweight-Champion of Poetry (1994 and 1995), sponsored by The World Poetry Bout of Taos, New Mexico and been a featured poet on two PBS television series on poetry: The United States of Poetry (1996), and Bill Moyers' The Power of the Word (1989) for which Mr. Troupe's segment, “The Living Language,” received a 1990 Emmy Award for Television Excellence.
Troupe edited James Baldwin: The Legacy, and was the co-author with Miles Davis of the best selling, Miles: The Autobiography, (Simon & Schuster 1989). Other books include Watts Poets and Writers, 1968 (editor), the groundbreaking Giant Talk: An Anthology of Third World Writing, (Random House, 1975), of which he was the co-editor; The Inside Story of Roots (Warner Books, 1978), co-authored with David L. Wolper, producer of that historic television miniseries. He also co-authored The Pursuit of Happyness (Amistad/HarperCollins) by Chris Gardner, a New York Times best-selling book and a major motion picture starring Will Smith.

Troupe’s other volumes of poetry are: Embryo (Barlenmir House, 1971), Skulls Along the River (I. Reed Books, 1984), Weather Reports: New and Selected Poems (Harlem River Press, 1991, re-issued in 1997), Avalanche (Coffee House Press, 1997), which featured art work by the Cuban artist, Jose Bedia and Choruses (Coffee House Press, 1999). In 1995 New Alliance Records released Root Doctor, a CD of Mr. Troupe reading his poems accompanied by the jazz and blues guitarist, Phil Upchurch.

The University of California Press published his twelfth book, Miles and Me: A Memoir of Miles Davis, in March 2000, which he has completed a screenplay for based on the book. The movie is scheduled for release in the near future. His thirteenth book based on his popular "Poem For Magic" is a children's book with illustrations by Shane W. Evans titled take it to the hoop, Magic Johnson (Jump at the Sun/Hyperion-Disney Books, September, 2000). Little Stevie (Houghton/Mifflin April, 2005) is his fourteenth and his second children’s book. Scheduled for publication in late 2006 or 2007 is Hallelujah, a third children’s book on the life of the late American musician, Ray Charles.

Currently, Mr. Troupe is writing an auto-memoir,” The Accordion Years: 1965 to 2005. Troupe lives between New York City and Goyave, Guadeloupe, with his wife, Margaret Porter.