‘They make poetry real’: Northampton launches 1st-ever youth poet laureate program, seeks student from city entering 7th to 12th grade
Updated 1:43 PM;
In 2017, Amanda Gorman, then 19 years old, became the country’s first national youth poet laureate.
Four years later, at Democratic President Joe Biden’s inauguration, she gave a rousing oration of her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” speaking eloquently on the complexities of democracy in the United States, stealing the spotlight during the hours-long ceremony and becoming a national sensation in the wake of her reading.
The recent Harvard University graduate went on to perform at the Super Bowl last month, reciting a poem honoring front line workers. She’s the youngest inaugural poet to date, and in the wake of her reading at Biden’s inauguration in January, sales of her book, also titled, “The Hill We Climb,” skyrocketed.