Join performer, musician, and writer Joy Harjo for a special evening of poetry and music in conjunction with the exhibition Pass the Mic and Indigenous Peoples' Day (October 10, 2022). As a member of the Muscogee Nation, Joy Harjo is the first Native American to hold the position of US Poet Laureate, appointed 2019-2022. Her recent work and activism poetry anthology "When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through," of which she is an executive editor. This anthology contains poetry from more than 160 poets representing nearly 100 Indigenous nations, including voices from Alaska.

Harjo also is the editor of "Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry." The companion anthology to "Living Nations, Living Words," this work is her signature Poet Laureate project and is featured in the Anchorage Museum’s upcoming exhibition "Counter Cartographies: Living the Land."

The event will be livestreamed via Crowdcast for free and made available for one month for online registrants.

In 2019, Joy Harjo was appointed the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold the position. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee Nation. She is the author of nine books of poetry, several plays and children’s books, and two memoirs. As a musician and performer, Harjo has produced seven award-winning music albums. Harjo is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Rasmuson United States Artist Fellowship. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Board of Directors Chair of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and holds a Tulsa Artist Fellowship. In 2014 she was inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

An Evening with Joy Harjo