Laureate Lands on Jeopardy! Come See the Launch of Her Space Poem!

It’s been an exciting time for our Poet Laureate, Ada Limón. Last month her book “The Hurting Kind” was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize, and a week later we announced her reappointment for a historic two-year second term. And this past Monday Ada was featured on the Jeopardy! Masters television show (her segment, “Pure Poetry,” appeared in the Double Jeopardy! round).

Speaking of big events, next Thursday, June 1, Ada will return to the Library’s historic Coolidge Auditorium for her first Library event since her opening reading last September. And this one is a doozy: she’ll be revealing her poem for the NASA Europa Clipper space mission and talking with the Librarian of Congress about sending messages into space. Joining the conversation will be Dr. Nicola Fox of the NASA Science Mission Directorate and Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen, the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation (otherwise known as our Astrobiology Chair!).

We hope you can come in-person—tickets are running out fast! Not only will you get to see the event, but you can also check out the amazing displays from both NASA and our Library collections. I can tell you that we will feature scale models of the spacecraft as well as our copy of the famous Voyager Golden Record. The rest you will have to see for yourself! If you can’t make it, though, no worries: the event will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.