Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd

United States Poet Laureate The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the official poet of the United States. During their term, the poet laureate seeks to raise the national cons ...

, 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 Robert Pinsky (born October 20, 1940) is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of ...

). Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Nation (Este Mvskokvlke) and belongs to Oce Vpofv ( Hickory Ground). She is an important figure in the second wave of the literary

Native American Renaissance The Native American Renaissance is a term originally coined by critic Kenneth Lincoln in the 1983 book ''Native American Renaissance'' to categorise the significant increase in production of literary works by Native Americans in the United States in ...

of the late 20th century. She studied at the

Institute of American Indian Arts The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic S ...

, completed her undergraduate degree at

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

in 1976, and earned an

MFA degree A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts adm ...

at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

in its creative writing program. In addition to writing books and other publications, Harjo has taught in numerous United States universities, performed internationally at poetry readings and music events, and released seven albums of her original music. Harjo is the author of nine books of poetry, and two award-winning children's books, ''The Good Luck Cat'' and ''For a Girl Becoming''. Her books include ''Poet Warrior'' (2021), ''An American Sunrise'' (2019), ''Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings'' (2015), '' Crazy Brave'' (2012), and ''How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975–2002'' (2004). She was a recipient of the 2017

Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize The Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize is awarded annually by The Poetry Foundation, which also publishes ''Poetry'' magazine. The prize was established in 1986 by Ruth Lilly. It honors a living U.S. poet whose "lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordina ...

, the Academy of American Poets

Wallace Stevens Award The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

, two fellowships from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, and a Tulsa Artist Fellowship, among other honors. In 2019, she was elected a chancellor of the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

. Harjo founded For Girls Becoming, an art mentorship program for young Mvskoke women and is a Founding Board Member and Chair of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation. Her signature project as U.S. Poet Laureate was called "Living Nations, Living Words: A Map of First Peoples Poetry", which focused on "mapping the U.S. with Native Nations poets and poems".

Early life and education

Portrait of Poet Joy Harjo - Tallahassee, Florida

Harjo was born on May 9, 1951, in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

. Her father, Allen W. Foster, was

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands At the age of 16, Harjo attended the

, which at the time was a BIA boarding school, in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

, for high school. Harjo loved painting and found that it gave her a way to express herself. Harjo was inspired by her great-aunt,

Lois Harjo Ball Lois Harjo Ball (1906–1982) was a Native American painter, basket maker, and ceramic artist from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and a citizen of the Muscogee Nation. Early life Ball was the daughter of Henry Marsey Harjo and Katie Monahwee. She was ...

, who was a painter. Harjo enrolled as a pre-med student the

. She changed her major to art after her first year. During her last year, she switched to creative writing, as she was inspired by different Native American writers. She graduated in 1976. Harjo earned her master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the

in 1978. She also took filmmaking classes at the Anthropology Film Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Career

Harjo taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts from 1978 to 1979 and 1983 to 1984. She taught at Arizona State University from 1980 to 1981, the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

from 1985 to 1988, the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

from 1988 to 1990, and the University of New Mexico from 1991 to 1995. Her students at the University of New Mexico included future Congresswoman and Secretary of the Interior

Deb Haaland Debra Anne Haaland (; born December 2, 1960) is an American politician serving as the 54th United States Secretary of the Interior, United States secretary of the interior. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she s ...

. Harjo has played

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

with the band Poetic Justice, edited literary journals, and written screenplays. In 1995, Harjo received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the

Native Writers' Circle of the Americas The Native Writers' Circle of the Americas (NWCA) is an organization of Native American writers, most notable for its literary awards, presented annually to Native American writers in three categories: ''First Book of Poetry'', ''First Book of Prose ...

. In 2002, Harjo received the

PEN/Beyond Margins Award PEN/Open Book (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is a program intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the publishing i ...

for ''A Map to the Next World: Poetry and Tales'.'' In 2008, she served as a founding member of the board of directors for the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, for which she serves as a member of its National Advisory Council. Harjo joined the faculty of the American Indian Studies Program at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in January 2013. In 2016, Harjo was appointed to the Chair of Excellence in the Department of English at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

, Knoxville. In 2019, Harjo was named the United States Poet Laureate. She was the first Native American to be so appointed. She was also the second United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to serve three terms.

Literature and performance

Harjo has written numerous works in the genres of poetry, books, and plays. Harjo's works often include themes such as defining self, the arts, and social justice. Harjo uses Native American

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

as a mechanism for portraying these issues, and believes that "written text is, for er fixed orality". Her use of the oral tradition is prevalent through various literature readings and musical performances conducted by Harjo. Her methods of continuing oral tradition include story-telling, singing, and voice inflection in order to captivate the attention of her audiences. While reading poetry, she claims that " hestarts not even with an image but a sound," which is indicative of her oral traditions expressed in performance. Harjo published her first volume in 1975, titled ''The Last Song'', which consisted of nine of her poems. Harjo has since authored nine books of poetry, including her most recent, the highly acclaimed ''An American Sunrise'' (2019), which was a 2020 Oklahoma Book Award Winner; ''Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings'' (2015), which was shortlisted for the Griffin Prize and named a Notable Book of the Year by the American Library Association; and ''In Mad Love and War'' (1990), which received an American Book Award and the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award. Her first memoir, ''Crazy Brave'', was awarded the PEN USA Literary Award in Creative Non Fiction and the American Book Award, and her second, ''Poet Warrior'', was released from W.W. Norton in Fall 2021. She has published two award-winning children's books, ''The Good Luck Cat'' and ''For a Girl Becoming''; a collaboration with photographer/astronomer Stephen Strom; an anthology of North American Native women's writing; several screenplays and collections of prose interviews; and three plays, including ''Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, A Play'', which she toured as a one-woman show and was recently published by Wesleyan Press. Harjo is Executive Editor of the anthology ''When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through — A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry'' and the editor of ''Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry,'' the companion anthology to her signature Poet Laureate project featuring a sampling of work by 47 Native Nations poets through an interactive ArcGIS Story Map and a newly developed Library of Congress audio collection. Harjo's awards for poetry include the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, a PEN USA Literary Award, Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Writers’ Award, the Poets & Writers Jackson Poetry Prize, a Rasmuson US Artist Fellowship, two NEA fellowships, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her poetry is included on a plaque on LUCY, a NASA spacecraft launched in Fall 2021 and the first reconnaissance of the Jupiter Trojans.

Poetry

In the early stages of adolescence is when Joy Harjo's hardships started fairly quickly. Her family was challenged by her father's struggle with alcohol as well as an abusive stepfather. From this started her journey into the arts. She started painting as a way to express herself. After getting kicked out by her stepfather at the young age of 16, She attended school at the institute of Native American Arts in New Mexico where she worked to change the light in which Native American art was presented. From there, she became a creative writing major in college and focused on her passion of poetry after listening to Native American poets. She began writing poetry at twenty-two, and released her first book of poems called ''The Last Song,'' which started her career in writing. Joy Harjo, Poet Laureate

Music

As a musician, Harjo has released seven CDs. These feature both her original music and that of other Native American artists. Since her first album, a spoken word classic ''Letter From the End of the Twentieth Century'' (2003) and her 1998 solo album ''Native Joy for Real'', Harjo has received numerous awards and recognitions for her music, including a

Native American Music Award The Native American Music Awards (also known as the NAMAs or "Nammys") are an awards program presented annually by Elbel Productions, Inc., The Native American Music Awards Inc., and The Native American Music Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit ...

(NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the year for her 2008 album, ''Winding Through the Milky Way. I Pray for My Enemies'' is Joy Harjo's seventh and newest album, released in 2021. Harjo performs with her saxophone and flutes, solo and with pulled-together players she often calls the Arrow Dynamics Band''.'' She has performed in Europe, South America, India, and Africa, as well as for a range of North American stages, including the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the Cultural Olympiad at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, DEF Poetry Jam, and the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington D.C. She began to play the saxophone at the age of 40. Harjo believes that when reading her poems, she can add music by playing the sax and reach the heart of the listener in a different way. When reading her poems, she speaks with a musical tone in her voice, creating a song in every poem.

Activism

In addition to her creative writing, Harjo has written and spoken about US political and Native American affairs. She is also an active member of the Muscogee Nation and writes poetry as "a voice of the Indigenous people". Harjo's poetry explores imperialism and colonization, and their effects on violence against women. Scholar Mishuana Goeman writes, "The rich intertextuality of Harjo's poems and her intense connections with other and awareness of Native issues- such as sovereignty, racial formation, and social conditions- provide the foundation for unpacking and linking the function of settler colonial structures within newly arranged global spaces". In her poems, Harjo often explores her Muskogee/Creek background and spirituality in opposition to popular mainstream culture. In a thesis at Iowa University, Eloisa Valenzuela-Mendoza writes about Harjo, "Native American continuation in the face of colonization is the undercurrent of Harjo’s poetics through poetry, music, and performance." Harjo's work touches upon land rights for Native Americans and the gravity of the disappearance of "her people", while rejecting former narratives that erased Native American histories. Much of Harjo's work reflects Creek values, myths, and beliefs. Harjo reaches readers and audiences to bring realization of the wrongs of the past, not only for Native American communities but for oppressed communities in general. Her activism for Native American rights and feminism stem from her belief in unity and the lack of separation among human, animal, plant, sky, and earth. Harjo believes that we become most human when we understand the connection among all living things. She believes that colonialism led to Native American women being oppressed within their own communities, and she works to encourage more political equality between the sexes. Of contemporary American poetry, Harjo said, "I see and hear the presence of generations making poetry through the many cultures that express America. They range from ceremonial orality which might occur from spoken word to European fixed forms; to the many classic traditions that occur in all cultures, including theoretical abstract forms that find resonance on the page or in image. Poetry always directly or inadvertently mirrors the state of the state either directly or sideways. Terrance Hayes’s American sonnets make a stand as post-election love poems. Layli Long Soldier’s poems emerge from fields of

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: *Lakota, Iowa *Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County *Lakota ...

history where centuries stack and bleed through making new songs. The sacred and profane tangle and are threaded into the lands guarded by the four sacred mountains in the poetry of Sherwin Bitsui. America has always been multicultural, before the term became ubiquitous, before colonization, and it will be after."

Personal life

In 1969 at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Harjo met fellow student Phil Wilmon, with whom she had a son, Phil Dayn (born 1969). Their relationship ended by 1971. In 1972, she met poet

Simon Ortiz Simon J. Ortiz (born May 27, 1941) is a Native American writer, poet, and enrolled member of the Pueblo of Acoma. Ortiz is one of the key figures in the second wave of what has been called the Native American Renaissance. Ortiz's commitment t ...

of the

Acoma Pueblo Acoma Pueblo (, kjq, Áakʼu) is a Native American pueblo approximately west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. Four communities make up the village of Acoma Pueblo: Sky City (Old Acoma), Acomita, Anzac, and McCartys. These com ...

tribe, with whom she had a daughter, Rainy Dawn (born 1973). She raised both her children as a single mother. Harjo is married to Owen Chopoksa Sapulpa, and is stepmother to his children.

Awards

1970s

* 1st and 2nd Place Awards in Drawing,

Kiva Club Nizhoni Days Art Show (1976) * Writers Forum at the

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

(1977) * Outstanding Young Women of America (1978) * National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships (1978)

1980s

* 1st Place in Poetry in the Santa Fe Festival of the Arts (1980) * Outstanding Young Women of America (1984) * New Mexico Music Awards (1987) * NEH Summer Stipend in American Indian Literature and Verbal Arts,

(1987) * Arizona Commission on the Arts Poetry Fellowship (1989)

1990s

* The American Indian Distinguished Achievement in the Arts Award (1990) *

Delmore Schwartz Delmore Schwartz (December 8, 1913 – July 11, 1966) was an American poet and short story writer. Early life Schwartz was born in 1913 in Brooklyn, New York, where he also grew up. His parents, Harry and Rose, both Romanian Jews, separated when ...

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

Award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

: ''In Mad Love and War'' (1991) * Oakland PEN, Josephine Miles Poetry Award (1991) *

William Carlos Williams Award The William Carlos Williams Award is given out by the Poetry Society of America for a poetry book published by a small press, non-profit, or university press. The award is endowed by the family and friends of Geraldine Clinton Little, a poet and ...

from the

Poetry Society of America The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...

(1991) *

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

from the Before Columbus Foundation: ''In Mad Love and War'' (1991) * Honorary Doctorate from

Benedictine College Benedictine College is a private Benedictine liberal arts college in Atchison, Kansas, United States. It was established in 1971 by the merger of St. Benedict's College (founded 1858) for men and Mount St. Scholastica College (founded 1923) for ...

(1992) * Woodrow Wilson Fellowship at

Green Mountain College Green Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Poultney, Vermont, at the foot of the Taconic Mountains between the Green Mountains and Adirondacks. The college was affiliated with the United Methodist Church and offered a liberal a ...

in Poultney,

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

(1993) * Witter Bynner Poetry Fellowship (1994) * Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of The Americas (1995) * Oklahoma Book Award: ''The Woman Who Fell from the Sky'' (1995) * Bravo Award from the Albuquerque Arts Alliance (1996) * Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers Musical Artist of the Year: ''Poetic Justice'' (1997) * New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (1997) *St. Mary-in-the-Woods College Honorary Doctoral Degree (1998) * Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Writer's Award for work with nonprofit group Atlatl in bringing literary resources to Native American communities (1998) * Finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award: ''Reinventing the Enemy's Language'' (1998) * National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships (1998)

2000s

* Writer of the Year/children's books by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers for ''The Good Luck Cat'' (2001) * Oklahoma Book Award for Poetry for ''How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975–2001'' (2003) * Arrell Gibson Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Oklahoma Center for the Book for ''How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975–2001'' (2003) *Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award *Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, Writer of the Year for ''A Love Supreme'' (2003-2004) * Storyteller of the Year, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers (2004) * Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, Writer of the Year for the script ''A Thousand Roads'' (2005) * Native American Music Award, Native Contemporary Song (2008) *Native American Music Award, Native Contemporary Song and Best World Music Song (2009) *United States Artists Rasmuson Fellows Award (2009) * Eagle Spirit Achievement Award (2009)

2010s

* Indian Summer Music Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental, for “Rainbow Gratitude” from the album ''Red Dreams, A Trail Beyond Tears'' (2011) *Mvskoke Women's Leadership Award (2011) *2011Aboriginal Music Awards, Finalist for Best Flute Album (2011) *Mvskoke Creek Nation Hall of Fame Induction (2012) *American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation for ''Crazy Brave'' (2013) *PEN USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction for ''Crazy Brave'' (2013) *Black Earth Institute Award (2014) * John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2014) * Wallace Stevens Award in Poetry by the

Board of Chancellors (2015) *Shortlisted for the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize *

(2017) *The 2019 Jackson Prize, Poets & Writers (2019) *Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) Literary Award, 2019 *Tulsan of the Year, 2019, ''TulsaWorld'' * United States Poet Laureate (2019) *Oklahoma Book Award for ''An American Sunrise'' (2020) *

Honorary Doctoral Degree (2020) *Association for Women in Communication International Matrix Award (2021) *Association for Women in Communication, Tulsa Professional Chapter - Saidie Award for Lifetime Achievement Newsmaker Award (2021) *SUNY Buffalo Honorary Doctoral Degree (2021) *UNC Asheville Honorary Doctoral Degree (2021) *University of Pennsylvania Honorary Doctoral Degree (2021) *Smith College Honorary Doctoral Degree (2021) *PEN Oakland 2021 Josephine Miles Award for ''When the Light of the World WasSubdued Our Songs Came Through'' (2021) *31st Annual Reading the West Book Award for Poetry, ''When the Light of the World Was Subdued Our Songs Came Through'' (2021) *Inductee,

National Women's Hall of Fame The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution incorporated in 1969 by a group of men and women in Seneca Falls, New York, although it did not induct its first enshrinees until 1973. As of 2021, it had 303 inductees. Induc ...

(2021) *Inductee, Native American Hall of Fame (2021) *Designation as the 14th Oklahoma Cultural Treasure at the 44th Oklahoma Governor's Arts Awards (2021)

Others

* American Academy of Arts and Letters, Elected Member, Department of Literature (2021) *American Philosophical Society, Elected Member (2021) *American Academy of Art and Sciences, Member Appointment (2020) *Chancellor, Academy of American Poets, Member Appointment (2019) *Poetry included on plaque of LUCY, a NASA spacecraft launched in Fall 2021 and the first reconnaissance of the Jupiter Trojans *Joy Harjo has received honorary doctorates from the following: **SUNY Buffalo Honorary Doctoral Degree, 2021 **UNC Asheville Honorary Doctoral Degree, 2021 **University of Pennsylvania Honorary Doctoral Degree, 2021 **Smith College Honorary Doctoral Degree, 2021 **Institute of American Indian Arts Honorary Doctoral Degree, 2020 **St. Mary-in-the-Woods College Honorary Doctoral Degree, 1998 **Benedictine College, Kansas Honorary Doctoral Degree, 1992

Works

Bibliography

Poetic works

* . * . * . * ; W. W. Norton & Company, 2008, . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . (shortlisted for the 2016

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. ...

) * . * ''Perhaps the World Ends Here'', Kalliope, 1999. *

As editor

* . * *

In anthology

* . Plays *

Non-fiction

* . * * . *

Children's literature

* . * .

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Letter from the End of the Twentieth Century'' (2003) * ''Native Joy for Real'' (2004) * ''She Had Some Horses'' (2006) * ''Winding Through the Milky Way'' (2008) * ''Red Dreams, A Trail Beyond Tears'' (2010) *''This America'' (2011) *''I Pray For My Enemies'' (2021)

Joy Harjo and Poetic Justice

* ''Letter from the End of the Twentieth Century'' (1997)

Notes

References

* * * * * Azfar Hussain. "Joy Harjo and Her Poetics as Praxis: A 'Postcolonial' Political Economy of the Body, Land, Labor, and Language." ''Wíčazo Ša Review: A Journal of Native American Studies'' 15.2 (2000) 27-61 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/36264

External links

Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate: A Resource Guide from the Library of CongressJoy Harjo: Academy of American Poet
s *

*
Interview with Joe Harjo on BBC Outlook
(starting at 26.30)
Voices of Oklahoma interview.
First person interview conducted on November 5, 2020, with Joy Harjo.
Interview with Joy Harjo on WHYY Fresh Air
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harjo, Joy 1951 births Living people Writers from Tulsa, Oklahoma Muscogee (Creek) Nation people Native American musicians Native American poets American women poets Institute of American Indian Arts alumni Native American children's writers American children's writers Writers from New Mexico American women children's writers Musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners American Book Award winners Native American dramatists and playwrights American Poets Laureate Native American women writers American people of Irish descent American people of French descent 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Writers from Oklahoma Members of the American Philosophical Society Poets from Oklahoma 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native Americans 20th-century Native American women 21st-century Native American women