USPL Archives - Poetry Promise, Inc.

US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo

LET THERE BE NO REGRETS — an online series featuring United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo!

Event(s) Description—Click on the live links to view the event:

Wednesday, Sept. 25: A discussion featuring Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis and Professor Andrew Woolford Ph.D.: Panel Discussion
Free film link: Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools

Tuesday, Sept. 29: A reading by Joy Harjo. [Reading not available.]

Thursday, Oct. 1: Joy Harjo & Terry Tempest Williams Discussion of Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry

Presented by Poetry Promise, Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival, and the Clark County Poet Laureate.

Joy Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and was named the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States in 2019. She is the first Indigenous author to be so honored.

Our free online three-part series ram Sept. 23, Sept. 29 and Oct. 1, 2020. Descriptions are below.

Wednesday, September 23 at 5:00 p.m. (PDT) – In conjunction with the Joy Harjo program, the 20^th annual Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival (LVJFF) presents a free online screening of a PBS documentary film entitled Unspoken Americas: Native American Boarding Schools, as part of its ongoing virtual film series. Following the screening will be a webinar discussion of the documentary, moderated by Joshua Abbey, Director of LVJFF, featuring Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis (the first Native Supreme Court Justice from Washington) and Professor Andrew Woolford, Ph.D. of the University of Manitoba (former head of the International Institute of Genocide Scholars).

Free film link to watch: Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools

Tuesday, September 29 at 5:00 p.m. (PDT) – Joy read poetry including work from her new book An American Sunrise via Zoom.

Thursday, October 1 at 5:00 p.m. (PDT) – Joy participated in a webinar conversation with author Terry Tempest Williams about the August 2020 publication of When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry.

We are grateful to the sponsors of this event. It would not be possible without them:

Additional support was provided by the UNLV Native American Alumni Club, UNLV Native American Student Association, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, National Congress of American Indians, National Indian Justice Center, The Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute, Spill the Honey Foundation, Office of Arts & Culture at Nevada State College, Brave New Voices, Jewish Nevada/Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada, Anti-Defamation League Nevada, ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Imagine Communications, and numerous individual sponsors.

Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate of the United States Visits!

The Clark County Poet Laureate has partnered with the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, Black Mountain Institute, and other sponsors to bring Tracy K. Smith, sitting Poet Laureate of the United States to Clark County as part of the Poetry Promise Reading Series (formerly Poets of National Stature readings)!

Writing Workshop: Saturday, 9/29/18, 12:30-2:30 PM at Winchester Cultural Center (3130 McLeod Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89121)
Featured Reading: Saturday, 9/29/18, 7:00-8:30 PM at the West Charleston Public Library (6301 W Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89146)

Tracy K. Smith was born in Massachusetts and raised in Northern California. In June 2017, Smith was named U.S. Poet Laureate. She teaches Creative Writing at Princeton University. She earned a B.A. from Harvard University and an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. From 1997 to 1999, she held a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. Smith is the author of four books of poetry: The Body’s Question (2003), which won the Cave Canem prize for the best first book by an African-American poet; Duende (2007), winner of the James Laughlin Award and the ESSENCE Literary Award; Life on Mars (2011), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; and Wade in the Water (forthcoming, April 2018). In 2014, she was awarded the Academy of American Poets fellowship. She has also written a memoir, Ordinary Light (2015), which was a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction.

Tracy K. Smith was interviewed for an article by NPR after her appointment as Poet Laureate. The New York Times also published a superb interview with her. In a profile by feminist media brand MAKERS, she discussed her major influences as a poet, the highlights of her career, and the birth of her daughter.

U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera Visits!

Juan Felipe Herrera, Newly Appointed Poet Laureate of the United States, Read His Works Sept. 26 at Nevada State College. Clark County Poet Laureate Bruce Isaacson announced a reading by the Poet Laureate of the United States, Juan Felipe Herrera, on the campus of Nevada State College in Henderson, 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26.

The reading marked Herrera’s Nevada debut after being appointed the 21st U.S. Poet Laureate in June 2015. He earned an MFA at the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop and an M.A. from Stanford. He is the author of 28 books of poetry, novels for young adults and collections for children, most recently Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes (2014). His poetry books include Half of the World in Light (University of Arizona Press) and 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border (City Lights). His latest book, Notes on the Assemblage (City Lights) was in pre-release and was available at the reading. jfh-poster_001 Mr. Herrera also conducted a Writers’ Workshop at the Clark County Library, 1401 Flamingo Rd., at 3:00 p.m. on September 26. He is the first Hispanic poet to serve in the position. When his appointment was announced he said: “This is a mega-honor for me, for my family and my parents who came up north before and after the Mexican Revolution of 1910 — the honor is bigger than me.”

Juan Felipe Herrera at Nevada State College