Virtual Author Talk: Joy Harjo

United States Poet Laureate and winner of the 2022 Academy of American Poets Leadership Award, Joy Harjo, joins us for a chat about her most recent memoir, Catching the Light and to discuss her rewarding lifetime as a writer and poet. 

In Catching the Light, Harjo examines the power of words and how poetry summons us toward justice and healing.  In this lyrical meditation about the why of writing poetry, Harjo reflects on significant points of illumination, experience, and questioning from her fifty years as a poet. Comprised of intimate vignettes, this book offers a fresh understanding of how poetry functions as an expression of purpose, spirit, community, and memory.

About the Author: In 2019, Joy Harjo was appointed the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold the position and only the second person to serve three terms in the role. Harjo has written nine books of poetry and two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior, which invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her “poet-warrior” road. She has won many writing awards and is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Board of Directors Chair of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and is artist-in-residence for the Bob Dylan Center. A renowned musician, Harjo performs with her saxophone nationally and internationally. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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This is part of a series of author talks in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium.  See all upcoming talks here.

The Author Talks series is made possible by Friends of the Library.