Q. R. Hand Jr.
Quentin Roosevelt Hand, Jr. (1937 – December 31, 2020), known professionally as Q.R. Hand, was an African-American poet.[1][2][3][4]
Biography
Quentin Roosevelt Hand, Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1937.[2][5] His father, Quentin Roosevelt Hand, Sr., worked as a pharmacist, and his mother, Catherine,[6] was a writer.[4] Hand had two siblings, a brother named John and a sister named Margaret.[4] The family lived in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood.[3] He was educated at Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts[3] and briefly attended Amherst College in 1954.[5] He moved to San Francisco's Mission District, performing in the local poetry scene and working as a mental health counselor for the Progress Foundation.[3] His poetry was influenced by his work in the Black liberation movement and his love of jazz,[3] and is considered part of the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat poetry movements.[7][2] He performed spoken word with musical accompaniment as a member of the Word Wind Trio.[5] Hand received the PEN Oakland Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.[8] Aaron Noble painted Hand's poem "Hemisphere" on 40 Clarion Alley in 1995 as part of the Clarion Alley Mural Project.[9][10] Hand moved to Vallejo, California, in 2003 where he performed his poetry at local venues like Listen and Be Heard and KZCT.[1][11] Hand died in Vallejo on December 31, 2020, at age 83 from cancer.[4]
Awards
- PEN Oakland's Reginald Lockett Lifetime Achievement Award (2012)[8]
Works
Collections
- I Speak to the Poet in Man Jukebox Press. 1985.[2]
- How Sweet It Is Zeitgeist Press. 1996. ISBN 978-0929730554
- Whose Really Blues: New & Selected Poems Taurean Horn Press. 2007. ISBN 9780931552137
- Out of Nothing Black Freighter Press. 2021. [4]
Editor
- Hand, Q.R., and Ross, John, We Came to Play: Writings on Basketball North Atlantic Books. 1996. ISBN 9781556431623
Contributor
- Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing William Morrow & Company. 1968.[7]
- New American Underground Poetry, Vol 1: The Babarians of San Francisco - Poets from Hell Trafford Publishing, 2005 ISBN 9781412052702
- Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts Omnibus Mystic Boxing Commission. 2022. ISBN 9781733548113
References
- ^ a b "Hand reaches out to Fans". Vallejo Times Herald. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d "About Q.R. Hand, Jr". Academy of American Poets. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Daly, Clara-Sophia (18 January 2021). "Q.R. Hand Jr., a poet of jazz-like verses, dies at age 83". Mission Local. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Fagone, Jason (4 January 2021). "Beloved Bay Area Black poet who blended verse and jazz dies at 83". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ a b c "Quentin R. Hand Jr. '58". Amherst Magazine. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ "United States 1950 Census", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XT5-WXY3 : Thu Oct 05 09:02:46 UTC 2023), Entry for John and Margaret, 13 April 1950.
- ^ a b Pernell, Adina (23 March 2017). "Local beat poetry legend Q.R. Hand visits campus". The Guardsman. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ a b "Awards & Award Winners". PEN Oakland. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ "Rise In Power Q.R. Hand Jr". Clarion Alley Mural Project. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ "Wall + Response". Clarion Alley Mural Project. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ Zimmermann, Gretchen (24 January 2023). "Grassroots Vallejo radio station promotes local talent". The Vallejo Sun. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
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