About Amanda Gorman
Amanda Gorman, born March 7, 1998 in Los Angeles, is an African-American poet and activist. In 2014, then aged 16, she was named the Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. In April 2017, Amanda Gorman became America's first-ever recipient of the National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States. She graduated in sociology from Harvard University in 2020. In 2015, she published One for Whom Food Is Not Enough, a first collection of poems published by Urban Word. She is also the author of Call Us What We Carry (Viking Books, 2021), The Hill We Climb (Viking, September 2021) and Change Sings: A Children's Anthem (Viking Books for Young Readers, 2021).Amanda Gorman's writings focus on issues of oppression, feminism, race and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora in America. She is the founder and executive director of One Pen One Page association, which provides free creative writing programs for disadvantaged youth. Gorman read her poem The Hill We Climb at the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, and is the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration in United States history. Jill Biden recommended her for the inauguration. After January 6, 2021, Gorman amended her poem's wording to address the storming of the United States Capitol. During the week before the inauguration, she told The Washington Post book critic Ron Charles: My hope is that my poem will represent a moment of unity for our country and with my words, I'll be able to speak to a new chapter and era for our nation.
Her poems have won her invitations to the Obama White House and to perform for Lin-Manuel Miranda, Al Gore, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and others. She has also performed multiple commissioned poems for CBS This Morning and she has spoken at events and venues across the country, including the Library of Congress and Lincoln Center.
Gorman has received a Genius Grant from OZY Media, as well as recognition from Scholastic Inc., YoungArts, the Glamour's College Women of the Year Awards, and the Webby Awards. She has written for the New York Times newsletter, The Edit, and penned the manifesto for Nike's 2020 Black History Month campaign. She is also the recipient of the Writers for Writers Award, the 2022 Winner of Goodreads Choice Awards of Best Poetry for Call Us What We Carry which was also nominated for the Best Spoken Word Poetry Album in 2023 at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
in 2019, Vogue magazine noted that Gorman drew inspiration from icons such as Maya Angelou, the Duchess of Sussex, and Michelle Obama, saying: Fashion brings a distinct visual aesthetic to language. When I'm performing onstage, I'm not just thinking about my clothing, but what my Wakanda Forever T-shirt and yellow skirt is saying about my identity as a poet.
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