- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
Joy Harjo, the first Native American to serve as the U.S. Poet Laureate, will serve a third, one-year term and has launched an online project that features some of the most-celebrated Native poets in Indian Country.
Harjo’s reappointment was announced by the Library of Congress on Thursday.
Harjo is the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate. An enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, she will be only the second person in the position’s history to serve a third term, which will begin in September.
“This has been a challenging year for the country, for our earth. Poetry has provided doorways for joy, grief and understanding in the midst of turmoil and pandemic,” Harjo said in a statement to AP. “I welcome the opportunity of a third term to activate my project and visit communities to share Native poetry. The story of America begins with Native presence, thoughts and words. Poetry is made of word threads that weave and connect us.”
Harjo’s signature project, “Living Nations, Living Words,” features 47 contemporary Native writers, including Louise Erdrich and Natalie Diaz, through a digital story map and online audio collection.
“Throughout the pandemic, Joy Harjo has shown how poetry can help steady us and nurture us. I am thankful she is willing to continue this work on behalf of the country,” Librarian Carla Hayden said in a Library of Congress blog post celebrating the announcement. “A third term will give Joy the opportunity to develop and extend her signature project.”
Explore all that the project has to offer here.
More Stories Like This
DePaul University Designated AANAPISI Institution by US Department of EducationChumash Foundation’s Technology in Schools Program Grant Application Deadline is April 30
Expanded Staff, New Space Helps Connect Labriola Center with Native American Community
American Indian College Fund Sets Higher Education Listening Sessions for April 16 & 22
American Indian College Fund Student-Designed Pendleton Blanket “Drum Keepers” Available for Purchase
Native Perspective. Native Voices. Native News.
We launched Native News Online because the mainstream media often overlooks news that is important is Native people. We believe that everyone in Indian Country deserves equal access to news and commentary pertaining to them, their relatives and their communities. That's why the story you’ve just finished was free — and we want to keep it that way, for all readers. We hope you'll consider making a donation to support our efforts so that we can continue publishing more stories that make a difference to Native people, whether they live on or off the reservation. Your donation will help us keep producing quality journalism and elevating Indigenous voices. Any contribution of any amount — big or small — gives us a better, stronger future and allows us to remain a force for change. Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous-centered journalism. Thank you.
