July 12, 2022

Ada Limón Named 24th U.S. Poet Laureate

On July 12, the Library of Congress appointed Ada Limón as the new United States poet laureate. In September, Limón will succeed Joy Harjo, who has held the position since 2019.

“I think we need to remember that we possess the full spectrum of human emotions. And I think moving through that grief and trauma, anger, rage—through poetry I think we can actually remember that on the other side of that is also contentment, joy, a little peace now and again, and that those are all a part of the same spectrum. And that without one, we don’t have the other.”

—Ada Limón to NPR’s All Things Considered

Read a selection of Limón’s work from Poets.org:

“Instructions on Not Giving Up”
“A New National Anthem”
“The Conditional”
“Give Me This”
“What It Must Have Felt Like”
“The Raincoat”
“How to Triumph Like a Girl”
“Before”

Join us in congratulating the African Poetry Book Distribution Project, led by Academy Chancellor Kwame Dawes, on earning a $343,750 grant from the Poetry Foundation to expand its work and study poetry book distribution in Africa. Read more about the African Poetry Book Fund, and about Dawes and his poems on poets.org.

”William [Carlos Williams] says that people die every day for the lack of what is to be found in poetry. And I think about that. There is something very important and vital in poetic expression.”

Erica Hunt is the author of Jump the Clock (Nightboat Books, 2020). Read and listen to Hunt discuss her curatorial approach and more on Poets.org.

First Book Award

Submissions for the First Book Award are open and will be accepted online until September 1, 2022. Eduardo C. Corral will judge the 2023 Academy of American Poets First Book Award, the most generous first-book prize for poetry in the U.S. The winning manuscript will be published by Graywolf Press and the winning poet will receive a paid residency at Civitella Ranieri.

#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week

Check out our #PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: the 2022 Sun Valley Writers Conference, featuring free, live-streamed events with former U.S. Poets Laureate Rita Dove (2019 Wallace Stevens Award winner) and Natasha Trethewey (Academy of American Poets Chancellor). Saturday, July 16, at 1 p.m. MTN and Monday, July 18 at 12:45 p.m. MTN. Learn more.

Watch and listen to Moncho Ollin Alvarado read “Amá Teaches Me How to Whistle” as part of the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation’s Read By series of poetry films.

Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey is seeking a full-time assistant professor of rhetoric and composition.
Kundiman in New York City is seeking a full-time programs manager.
Poets & Writers in New York City is seeking a programs & partnerships assistant, development & marketing associate, and a production editor.

Revisit last week’s Poem-a-Day selections with us on Poets.org:

July 3: “Lincoln” by John Gould Fletcher
July 4: “Tenant” by Emily Skillings
July 5: “The Neighbor’s Street Sirens Sing” by Ed Roberson
July 6: “How could I have known I would need to remember your laughter,” by Lauren K. Alleyne
July 7: “Language of the Moon” by Major Jackson
July 8: “fire danger high today” by Jaye Elizabeth Elijah
July 9: “In the Yellowstone” by Harriet Monroe

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Ada Limón Appointed United States Poet Laureate

Ada Limón Named 24th U.S. Poet Laureate

Older messages

from "Consequences of a Heavy Heart" by Jennifer Firestone

"I, New York" by Lam Lai

"The Treasure" by Robinson Jeffers

"In the Yellowstone" by Harriet Monroe

"fire danger high today" by Jaye Elizabeth Elijah

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