Tracie Morris
Encyclopedia
Tracie Morris is an American
poet, performer, vocalist and academic originally from Brooklyn, New York.
poetry scene in the early 1990s. She became known as a local performer in the "slam" scene located in the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
in New York City, New York, and eventually made the 1993 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team. She competed in the 1993 National Poetry Slam
held that year in San Francisco along with her Nuyorican teammates Maggie Estep
, Hal Sirowitz
and Regie Cabico.
Soon after, she began touring with other "slam poets" around the country and abroad, including Maggie Estep
, Dael Orlandersmith
, Mike Tyler
and Paul Beatty
and performed her work on MTV's Spoken Word: Unplugged. She was also performing with music from the outset of her poetry career—collaborating with musicians she met through the Black Rock Coalition
, an organization that she was affiliated with from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s. Morris' work is embraced by slam and performance poets as well as the Language Poets, a contemporary poetic avant-garde. She is featured, for example, on Charles Bernstein
's | Close Listening radio program and was featured at a 2008 conference on Conceptual Poetics alongside Bernstein, Marjorie Perloff
, Craig Dworkin and others.
Morris is now known as a sound artist and sound poet and as an occasional theatrical performer. Her work was featured in the 2002 Whitney Biennial
. In 2008 her poem "Africa(n)" was included on the compilation album Crosstalk: American Speech Music
(Bridge Records; produced by Mendi & Keith Obadike). Morris has a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from NYU and an MFA
in poetry from Hunter College
, CUNY; and has taught in several institutions of higher education (she is an Associate Professor at Pratt Institute
). She was the 2007-2008 Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania
.
Terraplane: Secret Life
Radio-Hyper-Yahoo
Twitter.com/mstraciemorris
Facebook: tracie morris "fan" psge
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
poet, performer, vocalist and academic originally from Brooklyn, New York.
Career
Morris emerged as a performer and writer from the Lower East SideLower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
poetry scene in the early 1990s. She became known as a local performer in the "slam" scene located in the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
Nuyorican Poets Café
The Nuyorican Poets Café is a non-profit organization in Alphabet City, Manhattan. It is a bastion of the Nuyorican art movement in New York City, USA, and has become a forum for poetry, music, hip hop, video, visual arts, comedy and theatre.-History:...
in New York City, New York, and eventually made the 1993 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team. She competed in the 1993 National Poetry Slam
National Poetry Slam
The National Poetry Slam is a performance poetry competition where teams from across the United States, Canada, and France participate in a large-scale poetry slam. The event occurs in early August every year and takes place in a different US city....
held that year in San Francisco along with her Nuyorican teammates Maggie Estep
Maggie Estep
Maggie Estep is an American poet and writer. She has published six books and released two spoken word albums: Love is a Dog From Hell and No More Mr. Nice Girl.Estep was born in 1963 in Summit, New Jersey...
, Hal Sirowitz
Hal Sirowitz
Hal Sirowitz is an American poet.Sirowitz first began to attract attention at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe where he was a frequent competitor in their Friday Night Poetry Slam...
and Regie Cabico.
Soon after, she began touring with other "slam poets" around the country and abroad, including Maggie Estep
Maggie Estep
Maggie Estep is an American poet and writer. She has published six books and released two spoken word albums: Love is a Dog From Hell and No More Mr. Nice Girl.Estep was born in 1963 in Summit, New Jersey...
, Dael Orlandersmith
Dael Orlandersmith
Dael Orlandersmith is an actress, poet and playwright who is best known for her Obie Award winning Beauty's Daughter and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama, Yellowman....
, Mike Tyler
Mike Tyler
Mike Tyler is a non-academic, post-beat American poet.He first became known during the 1990s poetry revival centered around the Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City. He has been dubbed the “most dangerous poet in America” because he once broke an arm while doing a reading.Tyler was born in...
and Paul Beatty
Paul Beatty
Paul Beatty is a contemporary African-American author. Beatty received an MFA in creative writing from Brooklyn College and an MA in psychology from Boston University. A 1980 graduate of El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California.In 1990, Paul Beatty was crowned the first ever Grand...
and performed her work on MTV's Spoken Word: Unplugged. She was also performing with music from the outset of her poetry career—collaborating with musicians she met through the Black Rock Coalition
Black Rock Coalition
The Black Rock Coalition is a New York-based artists' collective and non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the creative freedom and works of black musicians....
, an organization that she was affiliated with from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s. Morris' work is embraced by slam and performance poets as well as the Language Poets, a contemporary poetic avant-garde. She is featured, for example, on Charles Bernstein
Charles Bernstein
Charles Bernstein is an American poet, theorist, editor, and literary scholar. Bernstein holds the Donald T. Regan Chair in the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He is one of the most prominent members of the Language poets . In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the American...
's | Close Listening radio program and was featured at a 2008 conference on Conceptual Poetics alongside Bernstein, Marjorie Perloff
Marjorie Perloff
Marjorie Perloff is an Austrian-born U.S. poetry critic.Perloff was born Gabriele Mintz into a secularized Jewish family in Vienna. Faced with Nazi terror, her family emigrated in 1938 when she was six-and-a-half, going first to Zürich and then to the United States, settling in Riverdale, New York...
, Craig Dworkin and others.
Morris is now known as a sound artist and sound poet and as an occasional theatrical performer. Her work was featured in the 2002 Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
. In 2008 her poem "Africa(n)" was included on the compilation album Crosstalk: American Speech Music
Crosstalk: American Speech Music
Crosstalk: American Speech Music is a compilation album of speech-based music by various composers, poets, visual artists and DJs.- Track listing :# "Declaratives in First Person" – 5:04# "Electroprayer 5.0" Crosstalk: American Speech Music is a compilation album of speech-based music by various...
(Bridge Records; produced by Mendi & Keith Obadike). Morris has a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from NYU and an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in poetry from Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
, CUNY; and has taught in several institutions of higher education (she is an Associate Professor at Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
). She was the 2007-2008 Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
.
Featured recordings with Elliott Sharp
Terraplane: ForgeryTerraplane: Secret Life
Radio-Hyper-Yahoo
External links
- Personal website
- http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/contemporary_literature/v047/47.3hume.html
- http://www.brooklynrail.org/2007/7/poetry/truth-be-told
- http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/social_text/v020/20.2morris.pdf
- http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Morris.html
- http://poetryfoundation.org/dispatches/journals/03.27.06.html
- http://herecomeseverybody.blogspot.com/2005/07/tracie-morris-is-multidisciplinary.html
- http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-887128-30-8
- http://poetry.about.com/library/weekly/blmp3051601.htm
- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E4D71230F93BA25751C1A96F958260
Twitter.com/mstraciemorris
Facebook: tracie morris "fan" psge