James Dennis Carroll
Born: 1 August 1950 (12:03 AM), Bellevue Hospital, New York City
Parents: Agnes (nee Coyle) and Thomas J. Carroll
Trivia: Carroll’s father was a bartender. His grandfather was also a bartender who worked for Dutch Schultz during Prohibition.
Siblings: One older brother, Tom.
Education: Catholic grammar schools (c. 1955-1963)
Trinity High School (1964-1968)
Briefly attended Wagner College and Columbia University (c.1968-1969)
Marital status: Married Rosemary Klemfuss in Reno, NV, 15 September 1978
They divorced in 1986.
Children: One son, Aaron (born c. 1968), and one daughter (age unknown), who was put up for adoption.
Career: Poet, diarist, musician, performer, actor 1963-present
Critic, Art News, 1969
Teacher at poetry workshops in NYC, 1968-71
Writer for Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey films, 1970-71?
Teacher at Naropa Institute, 1986-?
Has appeared in several films and on many albums
Regularly gives poetry readings across the USA and Canada.
Awards: 1970: Random House Young Writers Award for excerpts from The Basketball Diaries published in Paris Review
1973: Living at the Movies nominated for Pulitzer Prize
Works:
Organic Trains (poetry, 1967)
The World Anthology (contributor, 1969)
4 Ups and 1 Down (poetry, 1970)
The Dial-a-Poem Poets (contributor to spoken-word album, 1972)
Another World (contributor to anthology, 1972)
Living at the Movies (poetry, 1973)
Disconnected (contributor to spoken-word album, 1974)
The Authors and the Artists (contributor to series, 1977)
The Basketball Diaries (nonfiction, 1978, 1980, 1987, 1995)
Catholic Boy (rock album, 1980)
Dry Dreams (rock album, 1982)
Life Is a Killer (contributor to spoken-word album, 1982)
Poetry in Motion (film, 1983)
You’re a Hook: The 15 Year Anniversary of Dial-a-Poem (contributor to spoken-word album, 1983)
I Write Your Name (rock album, 1984)
Listen to the City (film, 1984)
Better an Old Demon Than a New God (contributor to spoken-word album, 1984)
Tuff Turf (film, 1985)
The Book of Nods (poetry and prose, 1986)
Club Ninja (Songwriter, “Perfect water,” 1986), by Blue Oyster Cult
Forced Entries: The Downtown Diaries, 1971-1973 (nonfiction, 1987)
Other Roads, by Boz Scaggs (Songwriter, 1988)
Gang of Souls (film, 1989)
Sound Bites from the Counter Culture (contributor to spoken-word album, 1990)
Praying Mantis (spoken-word album, 1991)
Fear of Dreaming: The Selected Poems of Jim Carroll (poetry and prose, 1993)
The Best of the Jim Carroll Band: A World Without Gravity (rock album, 1993)
The Basketball Diaries (film, 1995)
The Basketball Diaries Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (contributor to rock
album, 1995)
The Basketball Diaries: Audio Literature (spoken word album, 1995)
“Junkie Man,” on Rancid’s album . . . And Out Come the Wolves
(contributor to rock album, 1995)
Curtis’s Charm (film based on Carroll’s story, 1995)
Home Alive (contributor to benefit album, 1996)
Kerouac: Kicks Joy Darkness (contributor to tribute album, 1997)
Void of Course (poetry, 1998)
Pools of Mercury (rock and spoken-word album, 1998)
Runaway EP (music, 2000)