Joy Harjo

Uncommon card · No. 161225

Joy Harjo ( HAR-joh; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States poet laureate from 2019 to 2022, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to have served three terms (after Robert Pinsky). Harjo is a seventh-generation descendant of Monahwee (also known as Menawa) of the Muscogee people. Additionally, Harjo is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation (Este Mvskokvlke) and belongs to Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground). She is a major figure in the second wave of the Native American literary renaissance of the late 20th century. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completed her undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico in 1976, and earned an MFA degree at the University of Iowa in its creative writing program. Harjo is the author of twelve books of poetry, including her most recent, Cloud Runner (2026), Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light, which won...

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