Toi Derricotte (pronounced ''DARE-ah-cot'' ) (born April 12, 1941) is an American
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
. She is the author of six poetry collections and a literary memoir. She has won numerous literary awards, including the 2020 Frost Medal for distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry awarded by the
Poetry Society of America
The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...
, and the 2021
Wallace Stevens Award
The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...
, sponsored by the
Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...
. From 2012–2017, Derricotte served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She is currently a professor
emerita in writing at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
.
Early life
The only child of Benjamin and Antonia (née Baquet) Webster, Toi Derricotte was born Toinette Webster
on April 12, 1941 in
Hamtramck, Michigan
Hamtramck ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 28,433. Hamtramck is surrounded by the city of Detroit except for a small portion that borders the fellow enclave city of Hi ...
. Her parents divorced when she was a teenager. A
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, she attended
Girls Catholic Central High School
Girls' Catholic Central High School (GCC) was a private, non-boarding college preparatory secondary school for girls grades 9 through 12 located in Midtown Detroit, midtown Detroit, Michigan. Guided by the religious philosophy of St. Thérèse the ...
in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
, where she graduated in 1959.
She went to
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
every day.
She later attended
Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
, where she studied psychology, but her studies were interrupted by an unplanned pregnancy,
and her marriage to artist, Clarence Reese. Their son, Anthony was born in 1962. The couple later divorced. Derricotte changed her studies to
Special Education
Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
and graduated with a BA in 1965.
Career
Derricotte worked in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
for
Manpower Inc. from 1964–1966 and at the Farand School from 1966–1968. She later married Bruce Derricotte in 1967.
They later moved to
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
where she worked as a teacher and participated in a special program, teaching poetry to students from kindergarten through high school.
With easy access to New York City, Derricotte participated in writing workshops and began writing each day.
Derricotte published her first poetry collection, ''The Empress of the Death House'', (
Lotus Press) in 1978. In 1983,
Firebrand Books
Firebrand Books is a publishing house established in 1984 by Nancy K. Bereano---a lesbian/feminist activist in Ithaca, NY. Karen Oosterhouse, publisher since 2003, describes Firebrand as "the independent publisher of record for feminist and les ...
published her second poetry collection, ''Natural Birth''. In 1984, she won a poetry fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, and a
MacDowell fellowship. She later earned an MA in
English Literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
. In 1989, the
University of Pittsburgh Press
The University of Pittsburgh Press is a scholarly publishing house and a major American university press, part of the University of Pittsburgh. The university and the press are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States.
The press ...
published Dericotte's third poetry collection, ''Captivity''. The collection had has second (1991) and third (1993) printings.
In 1991, Derricotte became an associate professor at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
. In 1996,
Norton Publishing Company accepted for publication Derricotte's literary memoir, ''The Black Notebooks, An Interior Journey'', a book she began in 1974 when her family became one of the first black families to move into
Upper Montclair, New Jersey
Upper Montclair is a census-designated place (CDP), unincorporated community and neighborhood within Montclair in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population for the CDP was 11,565. . The memoir won the 1998
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...
for Non-Fiction.
Derricotte co-founded the Cave Canem Foundation, a national poetry organization in 1996, with American writer,
Cornelius Eady. Cave Canem is a national poetry organization that supports the professional growth of
African- American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
poets. In 2016, she and Eady accepted the National Book Foundation's Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community on behalf of Cave Canem.
The University of Pittsburgh Press published Derricotte's fourth, fifth and sixth poetry collections: ''Tender'' in 1997, ''The Undertaker's Daughter'' in 2011, and ''"I": New and Selected Poems'' in 2019. In October 2019, '"I": New and Selected Poems' was longlisted for the National Book Award for Poetry.
In 2012, Derricotte was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She served as a Chancellor from 2012–2017. She is currently a professor emerita in writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
Awards and recognition
*
Lucille Medwick Memorial Award
The Lucille Medwick Memorial Award is given once a year to a member of the Poetry Society of America. It was "established by Maury Medwick in memory of his wife, the poet and editor, for an original poem in any form on a humanitarian theme."{{cite ...
, (1985)
* Paterson Poetry Prize, ''Tender'', (1998)
*
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...
for Non-Fiction, ''The Black Notebooks, An Interior Journey'', (1998)
* Pen/Voelker Award, ''The Undertaker's Daughter'', (2012)
*
National Book Award for Poetry
The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers". , ''"I": New and Selected Poems'', finalist (2019)
* Frost Medal, Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in Poetry, (2020)
["Announcing the 2020 Frost Medalist, Toi Derricotte"](_blank)
Poetry Society of America, February 5, 2020.
*Wallace Stevens Award, ''The Blue Nightgown'', (2021)
Selected bibliography
;Collections
* ''The Empress of the Death House'', (Lotus Press, 1978)
* ''Natural Birth'', (
Firebrand Books
Firebrand Books is a publishing house established in 1984 by Nancy K. Bereano---a lesbian/feminist activist in Ithaca, NY. Karen Oosterhouse, publisher since 2003, describes Firebrand as "the independent publisher of record for feminist and les ...
, 1983)
* ''Captivity'', (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989)
* ''Tender'', (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997)
* ''The Undertaker's Daughter'', ((University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011)
* ''"I": New and Selected Poems'', (University of Pittsburgh Press, (2019)
Non-fiction
* ''The Black Notebooks: An Interior Journey'', (W.W. Norton, 1997)
*
Critical studies and reviews of Derricotte's work
*''The Image and Identity of the Black Woman in the Poetry and Prose of Toi Derricotte'' by Dufer, Miriam D., MA.
References
External links
*
Toi Derricotte Papers. James Weldon Johnson Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derricotte, Toi
1941 births
Living people
African-American poets
American women poets
New York University alumni
Poets from Michigan
Poets from Pennsylvania
The New Yorker people
University of Pittsburgh faculty
Wayne State University alumni
Writers from Detroit
Writers from Pittsburgh
African-American Catholics
American women academics
21st-century African-American people
21st-century African-American women
20th-century African-American people
20th-century African-American women
African-American women writers