Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner is a poet and

climate change activist Individual action on climate change describes the personal choices that everyone can make to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of their lifestyles and catalyze climate action. These actions can focus directly on how choices create emissions, such ...

from the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

Early life

Jetn̄il-Kijiner was born in the Marshall Islands and raised in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. Her mother is

Hilda Heine Hilda Cathy Heine (born 6 April 1951) is a Marshallese educator and politician. She has served as the president of the Marshall Islands since 2024, having previously served from 2016 to 2020. Heine was the first woman to lead any sovereign count ...

President of the Marshall Islands The following is a list of President (government title), presidents of the Marshall Islands, since the establishment of that office in 1979. The president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands is the head of state and government of the Marshall ...

. Jetn̄il-Kijiner received her B.A. from

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and her MA in Pacific Island Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Career

Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner at World Climate Conference COP23

Jetn̄il-Kijiner's poetry highlights issues around the environment and

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. She also explores social injustice including colonialism, migration, and racism. Her first collections of poetry, entitled ''Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter'', was published in 2017 by the

University of Arizona Press The University of Arizona Press, a publishing house founded in 1959 as a department of the University of Arizona, is a nonprofit publisher of scholarly and regional books. As a delegate of the University of Arizona to the larger world, the Press p ...

. It is considered the first published book of poetry written by someone from the Marshall Islands. She is a cofounder of the environmental nonprofit organization Jo-Jikum (''Jodrikdrik in Jipan ene eo e Kutok Maroro'') which aims to support Marshallese youth in taking action on climate change and environmental issues that affect the Marshall Islands. Jetn̄il-Kijiner taught at the

College of the Marshall Islands The College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) is a public community college in Uliga on the Majuro Atoll of the Marshall Islands. It primarily serves students from within the Micronesian region and is designated as the national post-secondary ins ...

as the Pacific Studies faculty instructor. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Gender, Media and Cultural Studies at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

. Selected poetry by Jetn̄il-Kijiner was included in ''UPU,'' a curation of Pacific Island writers’ work which was first presented at the Silo Theatre as part of the

Auckland Arts Festival Formerly known as Auckland Festival, Auckland Arts Festival or is an annual arts and cultural festival held in Auckland, New Zealand. The Festival features works from New Zealand, the Pacific, Asia and beyond, including world premieres of new wo ...

in March 2020. ''UPU'' was remounted as part of the

Kia Mau Festival The Kia Mau Festival, previously called Ahi Kaa Festival, is a biennial performing arts festival in Wellington, New Zealand. In te reo Māori, kia mau is "a call to stay - an invitation to join us". The festival covers Māori, Pasifika and In ...

in Wellington in June 2021.

Accomplishments

In 2012, she represented the Marshall Islands at the Poetry Parnassus Festival in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In 2014, Jetn̄il-Kijiner was chosen to address the United Nations Climate Summit. She performed the piece, '

Dear Matafele Peinem "Dear Matafele Peinam" is a poem by the Marshallese poet Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner. Written in English, the poem is a letter to her then seven month old daughter, Matafele Peinam. The poem is most notable for its having been read aloud by Jetn̄il-Ki ...

', at the opening ceremony in New York. In 2015 she was invited to speak at COP21 in Paris. Also in 2015, she was selected by

Vogue magazine ''Vogue'' (stylized in all caps), also known as American ''Vogue'', is a monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers style news, including haute couture fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway. It is part of the global collectio ...

as one of 13 Climate Warriors and in 2017 named Impact Hero of the Year by Earth Company. Her work was included in the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9) in 2018 at Queensland Gallery of Modern Art where her work referenced the weaving process and gender roles in the form of an installation and performance. In 2019, Jetn̄il-Kijiner was selected as an Obama Asia Pacific Leader Fellow and MIT Director’s Media Lab Fellow. Jetn̄il-Kijiner is featured in

Naomi Hirahara Naomi Hirahara (, born 1962) is an American mystery writer and journalist. She edited the largest Japanese-American daily newspaper, ''Rafu Shimpo'', for several years. She is currently a writer of both fiction and non-fiction works and the Edgar ...

's anthology ''We Are Here: 30 Inspiring Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Have Shaped the United States'' that was published by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

and

Running Press Kids Running Press is an American publishing company and member of the Perseus Books Group, a division of the Hachette Book Group. The publisher's offices are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with many of the corporate functions taking place in ...

in 2022.

Notable works

''Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter'' (2017)

In 2017, Jetn̄il-Kijiner made history by being the first Marshallese author to publish a book, a collection of poems entitled ''Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter.'' Her book engages with themes of the human, socioeconomic, and environmental crisis that the Marshall Islands encountered due to the United States military occupation. Her poems outline the daily lives of the Marshallese as they follow their customs and traditions while experiencing environmental problems as a result of nuclear testings, colonialism, and climate change.

"Rise: From One Island to Another" (2018)

In 2018, Jetn̄il-Kijiner collaborated with Aka Niviâna, a climate change activist poet from

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, to write a poem about their stories of climate change. The poem, "Rise: From One Island to Another," explains the destruction of two opposite homelands and the reality of melting icecaps and rising sea levels. In an interview with ''

Grist Magazine ''Grist'' (originally ''Grist Magazine''; also referred to as Grist.org) is an American non-profit online magazine founded in 1999 that publishes environmental news and commentary. ''Grists tagline is "Climate. Justice. Solutions." ''Grist'' ...

'', Jetn̄il-Kijiner said that "when she found herself face-to-face with a physical body that threatens to submerge her ancestral homeland, she felt reverence, not anger." The two indigenous women performed the poem on top of a glacier in Greenland. The video is six minutes long with footage of scenery from glaciers and beaches, paying homage to each women's homes.

Bibliography

* ''Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter'' The University of Arizona Press, 2017. * Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner (ed), Leora Kava (ed), Craig Santos Perez (ed), ''Indigenous Pacific Islander eco-literatures'' University of Hawaiʻi Press, Honolulu, 2022.

References

External links

Official website

Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner's blog