Toi Derricotte facts for kids

Toi Derricotte (pronounced DARE-ah-cot) is an American poet born on April 12, 1941. She has written six collections of poetry and a special kind of autobiography called a literary memoir. She has won many important awards for her writing. These include the Frost Medal in 2020, which honors a poet's lifetime achievements, and the Wallace Stevens Award in 2021. From 2012 to 2017, Toi Derricotte was a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets. She is now a retired professor of writing at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also part of a group called The Wintergreen Women Writers Collective.

Early Life and Education

Toi Derricotte was born Toinette Webster on April 12, 1941. She was the only child of Benjamin and Antonia Webster. Her birthplace was Hamtramck, Michigan. When she was a teenager, her parents divorced. She grew up in the Catholic faith. She went to Girls Catholic Central High School in Detroit and finished in 1959. She attended church services every day.

Later, she went to Wayne State University to study psychology. Her studies were paused when she had a child, Anthony, in 1962. She married the artist Clarence Reese, but they later divorced. Toi Derricotte then changed her studies to Special Education. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1965.

Her Career as a Writer and Teacher

Toi Derricotte worked in Detroit from 1964 to 1968. In 1967, she married Bruce Derricotte. They moved to New Jersey. There, she worked as a teacher. She also joined a special program. In this program, she taught poetry to students of all ages. This included children from kindergarten all the way up to high school.

Living close to New York City, Toi Derricotte could attend writing workshops. She started writing every day. In 1978, she published her first book of poems. It was called The Empress of the Death House. Her second poetry book, Natural Birth, came out in 1983. In 1984, she received two special awards. These were a poetry fellowship and a MacDowell fellowship. She later earned a master's degree in English Literature from New York University. In 1989, her third poetry collection, Captivity, was published. This book was so popular that it was printed two more times.

In 1991, Toi Derricotte became a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1996, a major publisher accepted her memoir. A memoir is a book about a part of someone's life. Her book was called The Black Notebooks, An Interior Journey. She started writing it in 1974. This was when her family was one of the first Black families to move into Upper Montclair, New Jersey. Her memoir won an award in 1998.

Toi Derricotte also helped start an important organization. In 1996, she co-founded the Cave Canem Foundation. She started it with another American writer, Cornelius Eady. Cave Canem is a national group that helps African- American poets grow in their careers. In 2016, she and Eady received an award for their great service to the American writing community through Cave Canem.

The University of Pittsburgh Press published more of her poetry books. These include Tender in 1997 and The Undertaker's Daughter in 2011. Her book "I": New and Selected Poems came out in 2019. In October 2019, this book was considered for the National Book Award for Poetry.

In 2012, Toi Derricotte was chosen as a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets. She held this important role until 2017. She is now a retired professor of writing at the University of Pittsburgh.

Awards and Special Honors

Toi Derricotte has received many awards for her poetry and writing:

• Lucille Medwick Memorial Award (1985)
• Paterson Poetry Prize for Tender (1998)
• Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Non-Fiction for The Black Notebooks, An Interior Journey (1998)
• Pen/Voelker Award for The Undertaker's Daughter (2012)
• Finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry for "I": New and Selected Poems (2019)
• Frost Medal for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in Poetry (2020)
• Wallace Stevens Award for The Blue Nightgown (2021)
• Honorary Doctor of Arts from Northwestern University (2025)