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Category: Poetry

Black and white studio portait of Louise Glück. She is seated in a chair, leaning slightly to the photo's right, her left hand cupping her chin, gazing intently at the camera.

Louise Glück, Nobel Prize Winner, Former U.S. Poet Laureate, Dies at 80

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Louise Glück, the poet whose often personal, always searching work won the Nobel Prize in 2020 and who served as the U.S. poet laureate for the Library in 2003-2004, has died at the age of 80. Here, we remember a night at the LIbrary in the spring of 1975, when she was a nervous young poet reading her work in an event at the Coolidge Auditorium.

Posted in: Poetry, U.S. Poet Laureate, Writers

Head and shoulders photo of Ada Limon. She is turned slightly to her right, looking to the right of the camera.

Ada Limón Gets Second Term as Poet Laureate

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Ada Limón, named the U.S. Poet Laureate last year, will serve two more years, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has announced, making the California native the third laureate to serve for as long as three years. Limón is composing a poem that will be engraved on NASA's Europa Clipper mission. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles to explore Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.

Posted in: Hispanic and Latino, Library Work and Employees, Poetry, U.S. Poet Laureate, Uncategorized, Writers

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

A Voice Among the Stars: Poem by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón Will Ride to Europa on NASA Spacecraft

Posted by: Brett Zongker

U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, who is known for work that explores the human connection to the natural world, is crafting a new poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission. Her poem, to be released in the coming months, will be engraved on the Europa Clipper spacecraft. It will travel 1.8 billion miles on its …

Posted in: Library Work and Employees, Poetry, Writers

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Harjo, Library Honored by Native American Tribal Association

Posted by: Brett Zongker

The Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums has presented one of its most significant awards to the Library and former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo for “Living Nations, Living Words,” Harjo’s signature project during her 2019 to 2022 term. Harjo, the first Native American to hold the nation’s poet laureate position, was honored with …

Posted in: Geography and Maps Division, Library Work and Employees, Maps, Native Americans, Poetry, U.S. Poet Laureate, Women's History, Writers

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Ada Limón, the Nation’s New Poet Laureate

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today announced that Ada Limon will serve as the nation's 24th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2022-2023. She is the author of six poetry collections and is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and the Kentucky Foundation for Women.

Posted in: Hispanic and Latino, Library Work and Employees, Poetry, U.S. Poet Laureate, Women's History, Writers

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

The Unexpected (and Illustrated) Dante

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy” had been an epic religious and literary work for 150 years when a publisher in Florence attempted to do something that had never been done — illustrate it in a printed book. The year was 1481. Gutenberg’s revolutionary printing press was just 26 years old. Nicolaus Laurentii took on the …

Posted in: Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Library Work and Employees, Poetry, Rare Book and Special Collections, Writers