Joy Harjo: podcast appearances and interviews

Joy Harjo, born on May 9, 1951, is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author who identifies with the Mvskoke (Creek) Nation. She served as the 23rd United States poet laureate from 2019 to 2022, making her the first Native American to hold this position and the second poet to serve three terms. A seventh-generation Monahwee daughter and citizen of the Muscogee Nation, Harjo belongs to Oce Vpofv, or Hickory Ground. She is a prominent figure in the second wave of the Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. Harjo studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, earned her undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico in 1976, and completed an MFA at the University of Iowa’s creative writing program. Her body of work includes ten books of poetry, three children's books, and seven albums of original music. Some of her notable publications include Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light, Catching the Light, Poet Warrior, and An American Sunrise. She has taught at numerous U.S. universities, performed internationally, and contributed significantly to Native American literature and arts. Harjo has received numerous awards, such as the Frost Medal, Bollingen Prize, Harper Lee Award, and Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, among others. She has held distinguished roles including a chancellorship of the Academy of American Poets and has been inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the National Women's Hall of Fame, and the Native American Hall of Fame. Her initiatives include founding For Girls Becoming and leading Native arts advocacy. As U.S. Poet Laureate, her project Living Nations, Living Words focused on mapping Native Nations poets across the United States.