Joy Harjo
U.S. Poet Laureate · 2019-2022 · as printed by the Library of Congress
Our reading written by Tale of the Muse
Joy Harjo, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1951 and an enrolled member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, was appointed the 23rd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry on June 19, 2019, the first Native American in the position. She served from 2019 to 2022, with a third term given so she could extend her project Living Nations, Living Words, which gathers work by 47 contemporary Native poets.
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Appointment and term
U.S. Poet Laureate, 2019-2022
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden appointed Joy Harjo as the 23rd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress on June 19, 2019.
Joy Harjo was appointed to a third term in order for her to further develop and extend her signature poet laureate project, "Living Nations, Living Words."
Life
Harjo is the first Native American to serve in the position; she is an enrolled member of the Muscogee Creek Nation.
Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 9, 1951
Books and honors
An American Sunrise (2019); Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (2015)
Crazy Brave (W. W. Norton, 2012), which won the 2013 PEN Center USA literary prize for creative nonfiction
Laureate projects
Created in 2020 by Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, this project gathers a sampling of work by 47 contemporary Native poets from across the nation
Source
All quotes on this page come from the Library of Congress through its JSON API. All poets laureate →