Joy Harjo, the current U.S. poet laureate, is in her third term with the title. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-born poet has served in the role since 2019.

A member of Mvskoke/Creek Nation, and a member belonging to Oce Vpofv, Harjo is the first Native American U.S. poet laureate.

On Friday, March 25, Harjo will arrive in Philly for a poetry reading at the Barnes Foundation. 

Harjo is the author of several poetry books such as 2019’s An American Sunrise and 1994’s The Woman Who Fell From the Sky. 

She is a performer, musician, and playwright, too. Harjo is the author of nine books. Readers can check out an excerpt from An American Sunrise here.

On more personal levels, Harjo has released two memoirs — Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior.  Signed copies of some writing from Harjo will also be available at the event. 

Harjo’s acknowledgements include the American Poets’ Wallace Stevens Award, the Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and two NEA fellowships.

Friday’s reading will be facilitated between audience interaction and Q&A, moderated by The Black Dancing Body author and dance studies professor Brenda Dixon-Gottschild. 

In-person tickets for Harjo’s poetry reading are already sold out, but you can still register to watch the reading online. 

Registration for online viewing is free. The livestream will begin at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, March 25. The poetry reading event will last until 8:30 p.m. 

Regarding the livestreams’s program schedule, viewers will be able to view Harjo’s poetry reading at 6:30 p.m. The post-reading conversation and Q&A will be available for streaming afterwards, at 7:30 p.m.

Masks and face coverings are no longer required, but still welcomed, at the Barnes Foundation if attending in person.