Joy Harjo: Advocacy through music and poetry
Courtesy of Jennifer Foerster. Photographed by Shawn Miller.
The event has been postponed, according to Colleen Green, director of the Office of Indigenous Affairs. More information will be available soon.
Joy Harjo, a Native American poet and musician, who served as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States visits Central Michigan University.
In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the keynote speaker event with Harjo takes place from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 14 in Warriner Hall, Plachta Auditorium. It was sponsored by the Office of Indigenous Affairs and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences along with Blue Flower Arts.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo is an internationally renowned writer and performer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, according to her personal website.
Jennifer Foerster, Harjo’s literary assistant, said Harjo is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets along with being on the Board of Directors Chair of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. She also serves as the inaugural Artist-in-Residence at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Foerster said Harjo will be reading poetry and will discuss how she uses her poems and music to advocate for Indigenous Peoples.
“(Audience members) should expect a moving and inspiring reading of Joy Harjo's poetry,” Foerster said.
Harjo was appointed the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, the first Native American to hold this position. This year, Harjo has received Yale's 2023 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry, according to her personal website.
Foerster said Harjo has received many awards such as the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award and many more.
Harjos success comes from “hard work, commitment and dedication to creativity, arts, justice and Native communities,” Foerster said.
Harjo has authored nine poetry books, several plays, children’s books and two memoirs. Her books will be available for purchase prior to the event along with a book signing after the event on the second floor of the Warriner Hall.
For more information, contact the Office of Indigenous Affairs at indigenous@cmich.edu or by calling 989-774-2508.
