Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo. An acclaimed Muscogee (Creek) poet, musician, playwright, and author, she is a seminal figure in contemporary Native American literature. Appointed as the United States Poet Laureate in 2019, she became the first Native American to hold the position, serving an unprecedented three terms. Her expansive body of work, which includes poetry collections like She Had Some Horses and the memoir Crazy Brave, intertwines personal narrative with the historical and spiritual consciousness of her people, establishing her as a vital voice in American poetry.

Early life and education

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, her early life was marked by a challenging family environment and a deep connection to her cultural roots. She began her higher education at the Institute of American Indian Arts, then a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school, where she initially studied painting and theatre. She later earned a BA in creative writing from the University of New Mexico in 1976, studying under notable poets like Leslie Marmon Silko. Her formal training culminated with a MFA from the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1978, a program that has produced many luminaries of American literature.

Literary career and themes

Her literary career launched with the publication of her first poetry collection, The Last Song, in 1975. Major works like What Moon Drove Me to This?, She Had Some Horses, and In Mad Love and War established her signature style, blending lyricism with narrative to explore themes of colonialism, feminism, remembrance, and the healing power of the natural world. Her poetry is deeply informed by Muscogee storytelling traditions and a spiritual worldview that sees the interconnectedness of all things. Later acclaimed works, including the prose memoir Crazy Brave, which won the American Book Award, and the anthology When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, further cement her role as a foundational and transformative voice.

Role as United States Poet Laureate

Appointed the 23rd United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by the Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in 2019, she made history as the first Native American to serve in the role. Her tenure, extended to an unprecedented three terms through 2022, was defined by her groundbreaking project "Living Nations, Living Words." This digital mapping project features 47 contemporary Native poets from across the United States, highlighting their work and their deep connections to geography and place. During her laureateship, she also conducted a prolific series of readings, lectures, and engagements, significantly broadening the national audience for Indigenous poetic traditions.

Other artistic work and activism

Beyond poetry, she is an accomplished saxophonist and vocalist, performing and recording with her band, Joy Harjo and the Arrow Dynamics Band, blending jazz, blues, Native American, and spoken word genres on albums like Letter from the End of the Twentieth Century. She has also written for film and theatre, including the play Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light. Her activism is integral to her art, advocating for Native American rights, environmentalism, and social justice, often speaking at events for organizations like the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and participating in movements such as Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

Awards and honors

Her distinguished career has been recognized with numerous major awards, including the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, and the Jackson Poetry Prize. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Philosophical Society. In addition to the American Book Award, she has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and the 2022 Yale Bollingen Prize for American Poetry, solidifying her status as one of the most honored literary figures of her generation.

Category:American poets Category:Native American writers Category:United States Poets Laureate