Michael S. Harper
| Michael S. Harper | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 18, 1938 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 7, 2016 (aged 78) Barrington, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Occupation | Poet, professor |
| Language | English |
| Ethnicity | African American |
| Citizenship | U.S. |
| Alma mater | California State University, Los Angeles |
| Genres | modern poetry, jazz poetry |
| Subjects | Jazz musicians |
| Notable works | Dear John, Dear Coltrane |
| Notable awards | Robert Hayden Poetry Award, Melville-Cane Award, Black Academy of Arts and Letters Award |
| Years active | 1968–2016 |
| Spouse | (divorced) |
| Children | 3 |
Michael Steven Harper (March 18, 1938 – May 7, 2016) was an American poet and English professor at Brown University, who was the Poet Laureate of Rhode Island from 1988 to 1993. His poetry was influenced by jazz and history.
He said that the most important thing he learned from musicians was phrasing, and the authenticity of phrasing, the transcendence and spiritual mastery. He published ten books of poetry, two of which—Dear John, Dear Coltrane (1970) and Images of Kin (1977)—were nominated for the National Book Award. Many of his poems have been included as examples of African-American literature and jazz poetry in various anthologies.
Harper was born in Brooklyn first of three children into a middle class black family. His father Walter was the originator of "overnight" mail and worked as a post office supervisor. His mother Katherine Louise, née Johnson was a medical secretary. He had a younger brother Jonathan Paul, born in 1941, died of a motorcycle accident in 1977 and a younger sister, Katherine Winifred, born 1943. He grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant until his family moved to their homestead in Los Angeles in 1951, where he attended Dorsey High School.
In 1955, he attended Los Angeles City College, initially enrolling in pre-med courses later literature, graduating in 1959 with an associate of arts degree. At the Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences (now California State University, Los Angeles, he earned a B.A. and a M.A. in English studies in 1961. He joined the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa and earned an M.F.A. in 1963.
...
Wikipedia