Tomorrow Night: Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s Inaugural Reading

Tomorrow, Thursday, September 19, at 7 p.m., Joy Harjo will take the stage of the Coolidge Auditorium in the Library of Congress’s Jefferson Building for the first time as 23rd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. To mark this historic occasion, musicians Howard Cloud, Larry Mitchell, and Robert Muller will join Joy in a reading and performance of her poetry. Though tickets for Joy’s inaugural event are currently sold out, don’t fret: If you can’t be there in person, you can still watch the event live via the Library’s Facebook page and YouTube site (with captions).

We hope you’ll join us tomorrow night—at the Library of Congress or virtually—and share in our joy (pun intended, of course) as we celebrate the beginning of Joy Harjo’s laureateship.

In the meantime, visit Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s online LibGuide; learn more about her connections to the Library of Congress’s collections and resources via our blog series; and watch the below video interview with Joy about the importance of poetry, her Native American heritage, and her new role as U.S. Poet Laureate.