Poet, Writer, Editor, Journalist 1963 - Present
Editor - Black Renaissance Noire Journal
A New York University Institute of African-American-Affairs publication 2003 - present
Retired - Professor Emeritus
University of California, San Diego, Department of Literature
La Jolla, California, 2003
Professor - Caribbean and American Literatures and Creative Writing
University of California, San Diego, Department of Literature, La Jolla, CA 1991 - 2003
EXPERIENCE
Teaching (Full Time)
1989-1994 Professor College of Staten Island, NY
1984-1989 Associate Professor College of Staten Island, NY
1979-1984 Assistant Professor College of Staten Island, NY
1976-1979 Lecturer College of Staten Island, NY
1971-1976 Lecturer Richmond College, Staten Island, NY
1969-1972 Instructor Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
1969-1970 Director, Malcolm X Center, Los Angeles, CA
1966-1968 Instructor Watts Writers Workshop, Los Angeles, CA
Teaching (Part Time)
1985 Adjunct Professor Columbia University, Graduate Division of Writing, New York, NY
1978 Visiting Professor California State College, Sacramento, CA
1972 Visiting Professor University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
1972 Visiting Professor Lagos University, Lagos, Nigeria
1968 Instructor University of California, Los Angeles, CA
1967-1968 Instructor University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL HONORS
2010 American Book Award, Lifetime Achievement
2007 Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement for Avalanche, a book of poems
2005 Writers for Writers Award, Poets & Writers, Inc.
2003 Finalist, The 2003 Paterson Poetry Prize
2003 Milt Kessler Award for Poetry for Transcircularities, New & Collected Poems
2003 Transcircularities Voted by Publishers Weekly as one of Ten Best Books of Poetry Published in 2002
2002 Distinguished Artist Award, Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center
2002 Appointed California Poet Laureate by Governor Gray Davis
2002 Recipient of The Odin Award from the San Diego Writers/Editors Guild
2002 Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Poetry from the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Center for Adult Education
2001 Recipient of an Award of Merit from the California Association of Teachers of English
2000 Recipient of the Stephen Henderson Poetry Award for Outstanding Achievement from the African American Literature and Culture Society
2000 Recipient of the Kuumba Award for Poetry from The African American Council
1998 Inducted into Black Writers Hall of Fame at Chicago State University
1997 Recipient of a Literary Light Award for Poetry from The Writing Center, San Diego
1995 Heavyweight Champion of Poetry Taos Poetry Circus
1994 Heavyweight Champion of Poetry Taos Poetry Circus
1991 Peabody Award The Miles Davis Radio Project, Public
Broadcasting System
1991 Ohio State Award The Miles Davis Radio Project, Public
Broadcasting System
1990 American Book Award Miles: The Autobiography: Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe (Simon & Schuster, 1989)
1987 The New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry
1980 American Book Award Snake-Back solos, poetry, (I. Reed Books, 1979)
1980 Appointed Director - Poetry Center The College of Staten Island by President Edmond Volpe
1972 Institute for African Studies Grant to Africa
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Editor-at-Large The Green Magazine New York, NY
Artistic Director Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego "Artists on the Cutting Edge: Cross Fertilizations" Literary & Music Series 1993-present.
Artistic Director San Jose Museum of Art "Intersections” Literary & Music Series, 1998 - 2001.
Guest Editor African Voices Magazine, summer, 2002
Founding Editorial Director Code Magazine 1999-2000
Contributing Editor Conjunctions Magazine, 1991-present
Contributing Editor Drumvoices Revue 1999-2009
Co-Editor River Styx Magazine 1983-1988
Senior Editor River Styx Magazine 1988-present
Contributor San Diego Writer’s Monthly Magazine 2002
Producer “Black Roots Festival" Reading Series, New York, 1973-present
Co-Producer “Miles Davis Radio Project,” Public Broadcasting System 1989-1991
Writer “ Thelonius Monk: An American Composer”, television documentary, 1991, Toby Byron Multiprises
Founding Editor American Rag Magazine, Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center, New York, New York, 1978
Founding Editor Confrontations Magazine, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, 1970
Judge Cave Canem Poetry Prize 2003
Judge National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Panel, 2000
Judge Illinois Arts Council 1991
Judge Poetry Society of America 1991
Judge National Poetry Contest 1989
Judge Missouri State Council of the Arts 1989-1990
Judge Writers Voice, 63rd Street, YMCA 1987
Judge New York Foundation for the Arts 1987
Judge Michigan Council of the Arts, 1986
Judge Massachusetts Council of the Arts 1985
Judge National Endowment for the Arts 1984
Judge Ohio Arts Council 1984-1985
Judge CAPS Fiction Panel 1980
Bibliography available upon request.
