Joy Harjo
Writing1951 (75)Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
Joy Harjo, the 23rd Poet Laureate of the U.S., is a member of the Mvskoke Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground). She is only the second poet to be appointed a third term as U.S. Poet Laureate. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she left home to attend high school at the innovative Institute of American Indian Arts, which was then a Bureau of Indian Affairs school. Harjo began writing poetry as a member of the University of New Mexico’s Native student organization, the Kiva Club, in response to Native empowerment movements. She went on to earn her MFA at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and teach English, Creative Writing, and American Indian Studies at University of California-Los Angeles, University of New Mexico, University of Arizona, Arizona State, University of Illinois, University of Colorado, University of Hawai’i, Institute of American Indian Arts, and University of Tennessee, while performing music and poetry nationally and internationally.
Known for
Credits
14
2025Highway 99: A Double AlbumMovieas Self
2024Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie MaeTV showas Self - 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate · 4 episodes
2023AnthemMovieas Self
2022Cara Romero: Following the LightMovieas Herself
2021Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American MascotingMovieas Self - Interviewee
2020Love and FuryMovieas Herself
2019Words from a BearMovieas Self
2016Medicine WomanMovieas Self - Narrator (voice)
2011Games of the NorthMovieas Narrator- 2005A Thousand RoadsMovieScreenplay
1996Pepper's Pow WowMovieas Self- 1994The Native Americans: The Tribal People of the NorthwestMovieas Self - Narrator (voice)
- 1982Jaune Quick-To-See SmithMovieas Narrative Poetry · Production Assistant
—Khonsay: Poem of Many TonguesMovieas Self