Derrick C. Brown

Last updated
Derrick C. Brown
Store3photo.jpg
Brown celebrating the construction of Write Bloody's first store in Austin
BornDerrick Clifford Brown
(1973-02-07) February 7, 1973 (age 50)
San Francisco, California, US
Occupation Poet, Performer, Publisher
Literary movement Poetry, Publishing, Slam Poetry
Notable worksStrange Light, Born In The Year of the Butterfly Knife
Website
brownpoetry.com

Derrick C. Brown is a comedian, poet/performer and founder of Write Bloody Publishing. He is the author of several books of poetry and is a popular touring author. He lived outside of Austin, Texas in Elgin, Texas and currently resides in Los Angeles. [1]

Contents

Life

Brown graduated from Pacifica High School in 1991 and became a decorated paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina for three years from 1991-1993. [2] He is a disabled veteran due to hearing loss from artillery while being enlisted during the First Gulf War. He studied Speech and Debate (Forensics), Playwriting and Broadcast Journalism at Cypress College, Palomar College and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff Arizona. [3]

Music

Brown was the lead singer/songwriter of the John Wilkes Kissing Booth and All Black Cinema. [4] Most recently, he performs with musician Beau Jennings in the group "Night Reports" which focuses on haunted baseball themed music. He credits his background in independent music for much of his success with his touring career and publishing house. [5]

Poetry / Performance

Brown first discovered poetry when he was enlisted in the 82nd Airborne. His involvement with poetry escalated when he became involved with the Long Beach and Orange County Poetry Slam community. He competed at his first National Poetry Slam in 1998, where he placed second in the National Poetry Slam individual championship in 1998. [6] He began touring nationally with his poetry shortly thereafter. To date, Brown has performed at over 1800 venues and universities, including Glastonbury, La Sorbonne in Paris, CBGB's, The Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City, The Mission Creek Literary Festival and The Berlin International Literary Festival. [7]

Early in his career, Brown often toured solo. However, he became known for touring and collaborating with other artists. In October 2006, Brown teamed up with poet and actress Amber Tamblyn for several poetry performances in California called The Lazers of Sexcellance. [8] In 2007, he toured Europe opening for the band Cold War Kids, chronicled in the documentary poetry concert film about him, You Belong Everywhere. In 2009, The All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, curated by The Flaming Lips, invited Derrick Brown to be the opening act for comedian David Cross. Brown performed with The Navy Gravy. [9] IN 2006, Brown collaborated with painter Blaine Fontana for a live reading and gallery opening of new paintings based on Brown's work. [10] Brown performed as a poet on The Tonight show with Jay Leno in 2007 with Cold War Kids, Elvis Perkins and Jessica Alba. [11]

Brown was known for curating unique poetry events like the Double Decker Poetry Bus Party and poetry shows at sea for Poetry Cruise, which he started in Long Beach CA, 2008. [12]

Brown has performed for the Best American Contemporary Poetry Concert series, The Drums Inside Your Chest, curated by Mindy Nettifee and Amber Tamblyn. [13] He appears in the film of the same name. [14]

In 2011, Brown was commissioned to write a new, 40-55 minute long poem for the Noord Nederlands Dans Collective, choreographed by Juilliard alum Stephen Shropshire. The work, Instrumental, was achieved by using fourteen dancers, an orchestra, one poet and was conducted by Emily Wells and Timmy Straw. [15] It received highly positive reviews in the Netherlands and Canada. [16]

The Poetry Revival Tours

In 2007, Brown began touring annually with Buddy Wakefield and Anis Mojgani, calling their group “The Poetry Revival.” Each year, the group invited other popular performance poets and musicians to join them for certain legs of the tour, and altered the name slightly to reflect the changing line-up. 2007 was known as "Solomon Sparrow's Electric Whale Revival". 2008 was known as "Junkyard Ghost Revival". 2009 was known the "Elephant Engine High Dive Revival". [17] And 2010 was known as the "Night Kite Revival". These poetry events were performed to large crowds across the United States. [18]

Write Bloody Publishing

In 2004, Brown started Write Bloody Publishing, an independent press founded in Nashville, TN. It moved headquarters to Long Beach, CA and in 2012, moved it again to Austin, Texas. Brown is quoted as saying that he utilizes a record label model for running his publishing company. [19]

In 2012, Brown launched The Shelf Life Poetry project to send poetry books that would otherwise be shredded to homeless shelters, prisons and underfunded youth writing programs. [20]

In 2012, Brown opened up the first all-poetry physical bookshop for his press, called Write Bloody, in Austin, Texas. [21]

Books

Children's books (Write Fuzzy Publishing)

Anthologies

Collections in which Derrick Brown's work is included:

Albums

Awards

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Performance poetry</span> Poetry composed for live performance

Performance poetry is a broad term, encompassing a variety of styles and genres. In brief, it is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe poetry written or composed for performance rather than print distribution, mostly open to improvisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amber Tamblyn</span> American actress and writer

Amber Rose Tamblyn is an American actress and writer. She first came to national attention in her role on the soap opera General Hospital as Emily Quartermaine at the age of 11. She followed with a starring role on the prime-time series Joan of Arcadia, portraying the title character, Joan Girardi, for which she received Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Her feature film work includes roles such as Tibby Rollins from the first two The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Megan McBride in 127 Hours (2010), as well as the critically acclaimed film, Stephanie Daley opposite Tilda Swinton which debuted at The Sundance Film Festival and for which Tamblyn won Best Actress at The Locarno International Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. In 2016, she made her directorial debut with the film Paint It Black starring Alia Shawkat and based on Janet Fitch's 2006 novel of the same name. In 2021 she starred opposite Diane Lane in FX's Y: The Last Man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russ Tamblyn</span> American actor

Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn, is an American film and television actor and dancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Smith (poet)</span> American poet (born 1949)

Marc Kelly Smith is an American poet and founder of the poetry slam movement, for which he received the nickname Slam Papi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie DeWolf</span> American slam poet and spoken word comedian

Jamie DeWolf is an American slam poet, film director, writer, spoken word artist, and circus ringmaster from Oakland, California.

Beau Sia is an American slam poet.

Jeffrey McDaniel is an American poet. He has published six books of poetry, most recently Holiday in the Islands of Grief. He is the recipient of a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His writing has been included in Ploughshares, The Best American Poetry 1994, The Best American Poetry 2010, The Best American Poetry 2019, and The New Young American Poets, as well as on the National Endowment for the Arts website. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Hirschman</span> American poet and social activist (1933–2021)

Jack Hirschman was an American poet and social activist who wrote more than 100 volumes of poetry and essays.

Buddy Wakefield is an American poet, three-time world champion spoken word artist, and the most toured performance poet in history.[9] His latest works have been released by Righteous Babe Records (CD) and Write Bloody Publishing (books). He has lived in Sanborn, New York, Baytown, Texas, Seattle, Washington, Los Angeles, California, and currently lives in Porto, Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Cline</span> American novelist, slam poet, and screenwriter

Ernest Christy Cline is an American science fiction novelist, slam poet, and screenwriter. He wrote the novels Ready Player One, Armada, and Ready Player Two and co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taylor Mali</span> American poet

Taylor McDowell Mali is an American slam poet, humorist, teacher, and voiceover artist.

Anis Mojgani is an American spoken word poet, visual artist and musician based in Portland, Oregon. Mojgani has been characterized as a "geek genius" with "fiercely hopeful word arias."

Andrea Gibson is an American poet and activist from Calais, Maine, who has lived in Boulder, Colorado since 1999. Gibson's poetry focuses on gender norms, politics, social reform, and LGBTQ topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz</span> American nonfiction writer and poet (born 1978)

Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is an American nonfiction writer and poet.

The Austin Poetry Slam (APS) is one of the longest running poetry venues in Texas. Founded in 1994 by Wammo of the Asylum Street Spankers and helmed for 15 years by former Poetry Slam, Inc. president, Mike Henry, Austin Slam is renowned for memorable and often raucous performances by many of the best poets in the slam poetry world. Austin Slam is best known nationally for hosting the National Poetry Slam (NPS) in 1998, 2006, & 2007, and for Austin teams' national finals stage performances in 1996, 2003, & 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Anaxagorou</span> British born poet and writer

Anthony Anaxagorou is a British-born Cypriot poet, writer, publisher and educator. His published work includes several volumes of poetry, non-fiction and a collection of short stories. His second poetry collection, After the Formalities was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize 2019. In 2020, he published How To...Write It with Merky Books. Anaxagorou's 2022 poetry collection, Heritage Aesthetics, won the 2023 Ondaatje Prize.

Kevin Staniec is an American writer, publisher, and author of children's literature, poetry, essays, fiction, non-fiction and screenplays. He publishes creative magazines, limited edition art journals and project books/catalogs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Kay (poet)</span> American poet

Sarah Kay is an American poet. Known for her spoken word poetry, Kay is the founder and co-director of Project V.O.I.C.E., a group dedicated to using spoken word as an educational and inspirational tool.

Neil Hilborn is an American slam poet who writes and performs poetry. His poems often detail personal experiences and battles with mental illness. He is best known for his poem "OCD", which has received 75 million views online. Hilborn tours to perform his poetry at colleges and other venues.

Rudy K. Francisco is an American spoken word poet and author. He has won several Poetry Slams and written six books of poetry: Getting Stitches, Scratch, No Gravity, No Gravity Part II, Helium, and I'll Fly Away. He made an appearance on TV One's Verses and Flow and performed his spoken-word poem "Complainers" as well as "Rifle" on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

References

  1. ↑ Gordon, Arielle. "On the Couch with Derrick C Brown". Impose Magazine.
  2. ↑ "Ventura County Star"
  3. ↑ "Minnesota State University" Archived 2010-08-15 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "You'll Want More". OC Weekly . 6 April 2006. Archived from the original on 30 March 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  5. ↑ "Bandwagon: Night Reports - Dixie Downturn".
  6. ↑ "Slam Winners". The Salt Lake Tribune . 30 August 1998. Retrieved 9 April 2008.
  7. ↑ "Poets and Writers Magazine
  8. ↑ "The Lazers of Sexcellance!". UCB Theatre. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  9. ↑ "All Tomorrow's Parties"
  10. ↑ San Diego Magazine. May 2006. p. 241.
  11. ↑ " "> cold war kids – perform "hospital beds" on the tonight show - drivebyMEDIA - Page 3". drivebyMEDIA. 26 September 2007.
  12. ↑ "Poetry Cruise". Archived from the original on 2011-02-08.
  13. ↑ Fraser, Trevor (11 April 2016). "Actresses' lives and deaths inspire poet Amber Tamblyn". OrlandoSentinel.com. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  14. ↑ "The Drums Inside Your Chest (2009)". IMDb. 1 April 2009.
  15. ↑ "Derrick. C. Brown's laugh-out-loud poetry - Cultureel Studentencentrum Usva". Cultureel Studentencentrum Usva.
  16. ↑ "Press Plus" Archived 2013-01-31 at archive.today
  17. ↑ Woolsey, Matthew (4 January 2009). "The Return Of The Troubadours". Forbes. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  18. ↑ Kass, Eddie (22 September 2009). "Huge poetry event coming Monday: Elephant Engine High Dive Revival". AnnArbor.com. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  19. ↑ "Write Bloody lends a hand to local poets".
  20. ↑ "Write Now Poetry Society"
  21. ↑ "Search - The Austin Chronicle".
  22. ↑ "BOOK REVIEW: Derrick Brown bares it all in 'Butterfly Knife'". University Wire. 2006-07-26. Retrieved 2008-04-09.[ dead link ]
  23. ↑ Locke, Mary (9 October 2014). "'You Just Don't Know Yet': Excerpts from Derrick C. Brown's 'Our Poison Horse'". PDX Magazine. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  24. 1 2 "Forensics". Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  25. ↑ "Soup". Archived from the original on 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.