A&E FYI: California’s first poet laureate to read in Duluth

Internationally renowned poet Quincy Troupe will read in Duluth at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29 in Somers Lounge at the College of St. Scholastica. The event is part of the 11th season of the Spirit Lake Poetry Series.

Troupe is the author of 17 books, including eight volumes of poetry, the latest of which is “The Architecture of Language.” He also co-authored Chris Gardner’s autobiography “The Pursuit of Happyness,” which was made into an Academy Award-winning film starring Will Smith in 2006.

He received the 2003 Milt Kessler Poetry Award for “Transcircularities: New and Selected Poems,” which was also selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the 10 best books of poetry published in 2002. “Transcircularities” was also a finalist for the 2003 Paterson Poetry Prize.

In 2002, California’s governor, Gray Davis, appointed Troupe the first official poet laureate of California. Troupe has published his poetry, articles and essays in more than 200 publications worldwide. His poetry and prose have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Italian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, Danish, Portuguese, Czech, Russian, Polish and Dutch.

Troupe is a professor emeritus of creative writing and American and Caribbean literature at the University of California at San Diego; the founding editorial director for Code magazine and 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.

Jazz musicians Tanya Moore and Greg Kehl Moore will perform before and after Troupe’s reading. Admission to the event is free, and complimentary refreshments
will be served. Troupe will sign books following his performance.

Funding for the Spirit Lake Poetry Series is provided by grants from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, the College of St. Scholastica, Northern Lights Books and Gifts, and the Lee and Rose Warner Foundation.

(Information courtesy of Paul Lundgren. Image courtesy of Knox College.)