Quincy Troupe
QUINCY TROUPE is the author of fourteen
books, including seven volumes of poetry,
the latest of which is Transcircularities:
New and Selected Poems (Coffee House Press),
selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the
ten best books of poetry published in 2002.
Transcircularities received the Binghamton
University Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award
in 2003 and was a finalist for the 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 at the Museum of Contemporary Art,
San Diego. He was the first official poet
laureate of the State of Caligornia to be
appointed by Governor Gray Davis.
Mr. Troupe is the recipient of two American
Book Awards: in 1980 for his collection of
poetry, Snake-Back Solos and in 1990 for in
non-fiction for Miles: The Autobiography.
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 the two-time winner of
the Heavyweight Championship of Poetry (1994
and 1995) sponsored by the World Poetry Bout
of Taos, New Mexico. He has 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.
His other books include: Watts Poets and Writers
(1968); the ground-breaking Giant Talk: An
Anthology of Third World Writing (Random House,
1975), which he co-edited with Rainer Schulte;
and The Inside Story of TV's Roots (Warner
Books, 1979), with co-author David L. Wolper,
producer of that historic television mini-series.
Troupe has published five other volumes of
poetry: Embryo (1971), Skulls Along the River
(1984), Weather Reports (1991; reissued in
1997), Avalance (1997), and Choruses (1999).
In 1995 New Alliance Records released Root
Doctor, a CD featuring Troupe reading his
poems accompanied by the jazz and blues guitarist,
Phil Upchurch.
Quincy Troupe has completed a screenplay
based on his memoir, Miles & Me (2000),
which is soon to become a motion picture.
His second children's book, Little Stevie,
based on the life of musician Steve Wonder,
was published by Houghton-Mifflin in 2004.
He is currently working on a memoir, The Accordian
Years; a novel, The Legacy of Charlie Footman;
and a collection of essays and articles. Troupe
lives with his wife, Margaret, in New York
City.
