The United States has a new poet laureate, and she resides in Kentucky.
Ada Limón, of Lexington, has been appointed the 24th poet laureate and will begin her duties in the fall, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced on Tuesday.
“Ada Limón is a poet who connects,” Hayden said in a press release. “Her accessible, engaging poems ground us in where we are and who we share our world with. They speak of intimate truths, of the beauty and heartbreak that is living, in ways that help us move forward.”
Limón is the author of six books of poetry, including “The Carrying,” which earned the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Her newest book of poetry is “The Hurting Kind.”
A native of Sonoma, California, she is of Mexican ancestry.
“What an incredible honor to be named the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. Again and again, I have been witness to poetry’s immense power to reconnect us to the world, to allow us to heal, to love, to grieve, to remind us of the full spectrum of human emotion,” Limón said in the press release. “This recognition belongs to the teachers, poets, librarians and ancestors from all over the world that have been lifting up poetry for years. I am humbled by this opportunity to work in the service of poetry and to amplify poetry’s ability to restore our humanity and our relationship to the world around us.”
She is the host of the podcast series “The Slowdown” on American Public Media. Described as a “literary once-a-day multivitamin, it runs every weekday and features a brief reflection by Limón and her recitation of a poem.
Limón is on the faculty of Queens University of Charlotte’s MFA program and teaches remotely.
Another Kentuckian, Todd County native Robert Penn Warren, twice served as U.S. poet laureate — in 1944-45 and 1986-87.
A poet laureate’s purpose is to raise a greater appreciation for reading and writing poetry among U.S. citizens.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
