Toi Derricotte facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Toi Derricotte
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Born | Toinette Webster April 12, 1941 Hamtramck, Michigan |
Occupation | Poet, Professor emerita |
Nationality | American |
Education | Wayne State University New York University |
Notable works | Black Notebooks |
Notable awards | Wallace Stevens Award (2021), Frost Medal (2020) |
Toi Derricotte (say it like DARE-ah-cot) was born on April 12, 1941. She is a famous American poet. She has written six books of poems and a special kind of autobiography called a memoir.
Toi Derricotte has won many important awards for her writing. These include the Frost Medal in 2020, which is for a poet's amazing work over their whole life. She also won the Wallace Stevens Award in 2021. From 2012 to 2017, she was a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets. This is a big honor! Today, she is a professor emerita at the University of Pittsburgh, which means she is a retired professor who is still highly respected.
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Toi Derricotte's Early Life
Toi Derricotte was born Toinette Webster on April 12, 1941. She grew up in Hamtramck, Michigan. She was the only child of Benjamin and Antonia Webster.
Toi went to Girls Catholic Central High School in Detroit. She finished high school in 1959. After that, she went to Wayne State University to study psychology.
While in college, she got married to an artist named Clarence Reese. They had a son named Anthony in 1962. Toi then changed her studies to Special Education and earned her degree in 1965.
Her Journey as a Writer
Toi Derricotte worked in Detroit for a few years. In 1967, she married Bruce Derricotte. They moved to New Jersey. There, she taught students of all ages about poetry. This helped her start writing every day.
In 1978, Toi Derricotte 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.
She received a special award for poetry in 1984. She also got a fellowship from MacDowell, which helps artists focus on their work. Later, she earned another degree in English Literature from New York University.
In 1991, Toi Derricotte became a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. She published her memoir, The Black Notebooks, An Interior Journey, in 1996. This book won an award in 1998. It was about her family being one of the first Black families to move into Upper Montclair, New Jersey.
Helping Other Poets
In 1996, Toi Derricotte helped start the Cave Canem Foundation. She created it with another American writer, Cornelius Eady. Cave Canem is a national group that helps African- American poets grow in their careers.
In 2016, Toi and Cornelius received an award for their great service to the American writing community. This was for their work with Cave Canem.
Toi Derricotte continued to publish more poetry books. These include Tender (1997), The Undertaker's Daughter (2011), and "I": New and Selected Poems (2019). Her book "I": New and Selected Poems was even considered for a National Book Award in 2019.
Toi Derricotte was chosen as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2012. She served in this role until 2017. She is now a respected retired professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
Awards and Special Recognition
Toi Derricotte has received many awards for her amazing poetry and writing:
- Lucille Medwick Memorial Award (1985)
- Paterson Poetry Prize for her book 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)