Former Illinois and American Indian Studies professor Joy Harjo named U.S. Poet Laureate

Joy Harjo

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today announced the appointment of Joy Harjo as the nation’s 23rd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2019-2020.

Harjo will take up her duties in the fall, opening the Library’s annual literary season on Sept. 19 with a reading of her work in the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress.

Harjo is the first Native American poet to serve in the position – she is an enrolled member of the Muscogee Creek Nation.