Quincy Troupe

Quincy Troupe was born July 22, 1939, in St Louis, Missouri, and 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. His other books of poetry
include Transcircularities: New and Selected Poems (Coffee House Press,
2002); Choruses: Poems (1999); Avalanche: Poems (1996); Weather
Reports: New and Selected Poems (1991); Skulls along the River (1984);
Snake-Back Solos: Selected Poems 1969–1977 (1979), which received an
American Book Award; and Embryo Poems, 1967–1971 (1974). He is also
the author of Miles: The Autobiography (1989), which received an
American Book Award; James Baldwin: The Legacy (1989); and the memoir,
Miles and Me: A Memoir of Miles Davis (2000). Troupe edited the
anthology Giant Talk: An Anthology of Third World Writing (1975) and is
a founding editor of Confrontation: A Journal of Third World Literature
and American Rag and the founding Editorial Director of Code. In 1991,
he received the Peabody Award for co-producing and writing the radio
show The Miles Davis Radio Project. Among his honors and awards are
fellowships from the National Foundation for the Arts, the New York
Foundation for the Arts, and a grant from the New York State Council on
the Arts. The year 2006 saw the publishing of his collaboration with selfmade
millionaire Chris Gardner on the latter’s autobiography, The Pursuit
of Happyness. The book served as the inspiration for a film of the same
name later that year starring Will Smith. He has taught at the University of
California-San Diego, and Columbia University. He was the first official
poet laureate of the state of California. He currently serves as editor of
Black Renaissance Noire (soon to be renamed Baobab), an academic, cultural,
political and literary journal published by New York University.
Troupe splits his time between New York City and Goyave, Guadeloupe,
with his wife, Margaret.