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Joy Harjo

ジョイ・ハージョ

Joy Harjo

Pen Names: Joy Harjo-Sapulpa（Used occasionally as a married name）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1951-05-09 （Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States）
Nationality
Muscogee Nation, United States
Languages
English

Career

Occupations
poet, author, musician, playwright, educator, United States Poet Laureate
Active Years
1975-
Memberships
Academy of American Poets, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Philosophical Society, Muscogee (Creek) Nation community organizations
Influenced By
Simon Ortiz, Leslie Marmon Silko
Influenced
Students such as Deb Haaland and a generation of Indigenous poets

Education

Institute of American Indian Arts
Period: 高校在学 (十代前半〜後半)
Country: United States
Attended as a BIA boarding-school high-school program
University of New Mexico
College of Arts & Sciences (art → creative writing) / Creative writing
Degree: BA
Period: 1970年代前半〜1976
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: United States
Initially pre-med, switched to art, then creative writing
University of Iowa
Writers' Workshop (creative writing) / Creative Writing (MFA)
Degree: MFA
Period: 1976–1978
Year of Graduation: 1978
Country: United States
Earned an MFA in creative writing

Awards

United States Poet Laureate
2019
Organization: Library of Congress
Result: 任命・在任（2019–2022）
Bollingen Prize for American Poetry
2023
Organization: Yale University
Result: 受賞
Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award
2023
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 受賞
Frost Medal
2024
Organization: Poetry Society of America
Result: 受賞
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
2017
Organization: Poetry Foundation
Result: 受賞
Jackson Poetry Prize
2019
Organization: Poets & Writers
Result: 受賞
Guggenheim Fellowship
2014
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: フェローシップ
American Book Award
2013
Work: Crazy Brave
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation
Result: 受賞
Oklahoma Book Award
2020
Work: An American Sunrise
Organization: Oklahoma Department of Libraries
Result: 受賞
Tulsa Artist Fellowship
2018
Organization: Tulsa Artist Fellowship (organization)
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Last Song

1975 Poetry

Her first volume of poems, a short collection that marked the beginning of her published career.

identitytradition and memory

She Had Some Horses

1983 Poetry

A seminal collection that uses horses as a central motif to explore ancestors, nature, and spirituality through multiple perspectives.

ancestorsnaturespirituality

Crazy Brave

2012 Memoir / Non-fiction

A memoir recounting her childhood and development as a writer, intertwining personal experience with cultural context.

coming of agecultural inheritancefamily

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings

2015 Poetry

A collection addressing contemporary violence, historical debt, and spirituality; shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize.

violenceatonementspirituality

An American Sunrise

2019 Poetry

A poetry collection dealing with Muscogee (Creek) history and memory; winner of the Oklahoma Book Award.

colonialismhistorical recoveryindigeneity

Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years

2022 Poetry (selected)

A retrospective collection marking 50 years of her poetry, compiling early and recent works.

retrospectcontinuity of art

Bibliography

  • The Last Song (1975)
  • What Moon Drove Me to This? (1979)
  • Remember (1981)
  • She Had Some Horses (1983)
  • Secrets from the Center of the World (1989)
  • In Mad Love and War (1990)
  • A Map to the Next World (2000)
  • How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975–2001 (2004)
  • Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (2015)
  • An American Sunrise (2019)
  • Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years (2022)
  • Crazy Brave: A Memoir (2012)
  • Poet Warrior (2021)

Adaptations

  • Poetry readings and stage performances (including one-woman shows)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
oral-tradition influenced, spoken-word lyrical styleincorporation of mythic and ancestral narratives
Recurring Motifs
horsesancestors and memoryland and natureMuscogee (Creek) spirituality

Legacy

Joy Harjo is a major Indigenous American writer whose work links oral traditions with poetic practice. As U.S. Poet Laureate she led projects mapping Native Nations poetry and has received wide recognition and numerous honors.

Museums

  • Bob Dylan Center (Artist-in-Residence) Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States Opened in 2022

Academic Societies

  • Academy of American Poets
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • American Academy of Arts and Letters
  • American Philosophical Society

Archives

  • Library of Congress: Living Nations, Living Words audio collection (related to her Poet Laureate project)
  • Library of Congress (Joy Harjo related materials)

In Popular Culture

  • Her poetry is included on a plaque aboard NASA's LUCY spacecraft
  • Quotations and readings used in U.S. public culture and educational programs

Quotes

  • I see and hear the presence of generations making poetry through the many cultures that express America. Poetry always directly or inadvertently mirrors the state of the state.
    Source: Interview on poets.org (2019) (2019)
  • Horses, like the rest of us, can transform and be transformed. A horse could be a streak of sunrise, a body of sand, a moment of ecstasy. A horse could be all of this at the same time.
    Source: Introduction to She Had Some Horses (1983)

Trivia

  • Named the first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate in 2019
  • Performs on saxophone and flute and has released several albums
  • Her poetry appears on a plaque aboard NASA's LUCY spacecraft
  • Founded the mentorship program 'For Girls Becoming' for young Mvskoke women