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July 1, 2002

Media Contact: Jan Jennings (858) 822-1684

UCSD Graduate Wins World Heavyweight Poetry Championship

Pat Payne, a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, has won the 21st annual World Poetry Bout Association's World Heavyweight Championship. The competition was held June 15 in Taos, New Mexico.

Payne joins an elite group of heavyweight champions of poetry, including UCSD literature professor Quincy Troupe who was recently named poet laureate of California. Payne is the only woman to hold the heavyweight title since Obie award-winning author Ntozake Shange in 1991.

A Caribbean-American multi-media installation/performance artist, poet, and visual artist, Payne received a master's of fine art degree in installation and performance from UCSD in 1999. She studied under Troupe, poet Jerome Rothenberg, and performance artist Eleanor Antin.

Payne has performed throughout the United States and Mexico and in Beijing, China. She has published widely and is currently working on a commissioned performance for Leilani Chan's TeAda Ensemble, entitled Blutoh, which will premiere at Angel's Gate in San Pedro in August. She resides in Los Angeles. She will return to Taos in June of 2003 to defend her title.