Joy Harjo wordt de 23e Poet Laureate van Amerika. Dat is gisteren bekendgemaakt op de site van de Library of Congress. Ze vervult de functie, vergelijkbaar met de Dichter des Vaderlands, voor twee jaar. In de Amerikaanse nieuwsmedia wordt benadrukt dat zij de ‘first Native American poet’ is die deze eer krijgt. Harjo volgt Tracy K. Smith op.

Harjo reageerde verheugd:

What a tremendous honor it is to be named the U.S. Poet Laureate,” Harjo said. “I share this honor with ancestors and teachers who inspired in me a love of poetry, who taught that words are powerful and can make change when understanding appears impossible, and how time and timelessness can live together within a poem. I count among these ancestors and teachers my Muscogee Creek people, the librarians who opened so many doors for all of us, and the original poets of the indigenous tribal nations of these lands, who were joined by diverse peoples from nations all over the world to make this country and this country’s poetry.