Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. Her books of poetry have garnered many awards, including the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She has released four award-winning CD’s of original music and in 2009 won a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year.

This reading is part of Native Innovation: Indigenous American Poetry in the 21st Century, a landmark symposium bringing together a new generation of Native American poets in a convocation of readings and conversations for an in-depth look at the dynamic state of current Native American poetry and poetics in the 21st century. Featuring leading Native American poets and co-curated by Joseph Bruchac and Allison Hedge Coke, this event examines a range of issues, including native languages, traditional storytelling, formal innovation, Native American politics, and much more.