I am so excited to close out National Poetry Month by interviewing a woman whose poetic voice has inspired and charged a generation of readers: 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, Ada Limón.
Her emotionally sincere verse and her brilliant, wild imagery have not only garnered her this historic appointment (she’s the first-ever Latina to hold the position) but also a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and numerous awards and nominations for her writing. (Also, she was one of TIME magazine’s women of the year!) Ada is the author of six books of poetry including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Her poems have appeared in journals, magazines, and anthologies the world over. Earlier this month, the anthology she edited, You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, was released as part of her poet laureate work with the Library of Congress. The book is a stunning collection of brand new poems about our relationship to the natural world, written by some of the country’s top contemporary poets.
The anthology is a great example of one of the things I love most about Ada: her ability to connect poets to one another and thread together not only our words, but the impact our work and voices can have on any given person or community. What I mean to say is that Ada loves poetry, but Ada loves poets just as much. There is no one more perfect for the job of poet laureate.
In this month’s Further Ado interview, I sat down with Ada to talk about her laureateship, sending her poem into space (seriously), and how poetry can remind us of our shared humanity in a deeply fractured world. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
Love,
Amber
More from today’s conversation:
The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón
Jennifer L. Knox
Rachel McKibbens
Dr. Carla Hayden, 14th Librarian of Congress
Joy Harjo, 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States
Europa Clipper spacecraft
The Merwin Conservancy
How to Fight back against an Epidemic of Loneliness
Dr. Mindy Nettifee
About Write Now Poetry Society
The Book of Light by Lucille Clifton
Robert Frost
Audre Lorde
John Ashbery
Frank O'Hara
Alejandra Pizarnik
Gabriela Mistral
Elizabeth Bishop
Czeslaw Milosz
Muriel Rukeyser
"The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver
"Caesura" definition
"Solastalgia" definition
Poetry in Motion, by Poetry Society of America in partnership with MTA New York City Transit
Poetry in Parks, a partnership between National Park Service, Library of Congress, U.S. National Poet Laureate, and Poetry Society of America
Francisco X. Alarcón
June Jordan
A. R. Ammons
Jean Valentine
Ofelia Zepeda
What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
"Startlement" by Ada Limón, for the Fifth National Climate Assessment
Milkweed Publishing
Interview with Eliza Clark on the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike
Interview with Michelle Hurd on the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike
Ada's social media accounts: X (Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook
American Fiction
Erasure by Percival Everett
Hellbent & Moonbound by Malena Cadiz
Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson
Listening in the Dark: Women Reclaiming the Power of Intuition, edited by Amber Tamblyn
Carl Jung
"In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa" by Ada Limón
In Praise of Mystery (children's book) by Ada Limón, illustrated by Peter Sís
