Draft:Kenneth E. Boyd Jr.

Kenneth Boyd (born August 25, 1958) is an American poet and Jazz Musician. He writes narrative accounts of American culture and Southern life.

Biography
Kenneth Boyd was born in Jacksonville, Florida, the largest city in the United States. He was a graduate of the high school formerly know as Robert E. Lee. He has lived in Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, and New York. He attended the University of Minnesota earning a B.A. in Psychology and a M.A. in Industrial Relations after studying music at Florida State University.

Writing Career
Kenneth Boyd is an emerging writer and has been writing poetry since 2016. His debut book of poetry, Grasshopper Dreams, was published October 27, 2023.

His poetry has been published in Of Poets & Poetry

He is from the UCLA Extension Creative Writing Program studying poetry under Miguel Murphy (Blue Linx Prize), Rosebud Bin-Oni (Alice James Award) and others.

Professional Career
Kenneth Boyd worked as a marketing executive for IBM and several high-tech companies, earning awards for marketing excellence including the 2001 Canadian Marketing AssociationInternational Campaign of the Year and the 1999 Harvey AdQ Advertising Award. His articles have been published in Direct Marketing magazine and a number of high-tech, software and marketing publications.

Music Career
Kenneth Boyd had a career as a jazz musician spanning over 40 years, playing lead trumpet in big bands, R&B groups and Latin jazz ensembles. In 1976 he was first trumpet for the Florida All-State Band, majored in music, and in 1978 he toured with Genesis out of Shelby, North Carolina. He was a founding member of the KC Gospell Orchestra and recorded Good Intentions on the former Sea Breeze Jazz Record Company label with the Stan Bann Big Band in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Affiliations
Kenneth Boyd is a member of the Florida State Poets Association, the Florida Writers Association, the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, the Academy of American Poets, and the Poetry Society of America.

Kenneth Boyd’s poetry can be found at Bardo Poetryalso under the pseudonym name K. Lucius Boyd.