Graphic of Amanda Gorman by Trinity Kendrick ‘21
By Elizabeth Jacob ’24
Staff Writer & Copy Editor
If you watched President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, Jan. 20, there was one moment in particular that Skye Gorman ’24 believes “spoke to America”: Amanda Gorman’s reading of her poem “The Hill We Climb.”
“She was really the star of the inauguration,” Skye Gorman said. Past presidents and key politicians watched as Gorman, the youngest poet to speak at an inauguration, captivated Capitol Hill for over five minutes. She was met with a standing ovation and a nation wondering, “Who is Amanda Gorman?,” a curiosity reflected in media coverage following the event.
Gorman was born in Los Angeles in 1998 and began writing at a young age to help her “auditory and vocal skills,” she told the Harvard Gazette. Born with an auditory processing disorder and a speech impediment, Gorman does not view either as a burden. Actually, she considers her speech impediment “a gift and a strength,” Elida Kocharian wrote in The Harvard Crimson. While in college at Harvard University, Gorman was the first person to be named the National Youth Poet Laureate, a title held by a young adult skilled in spoken word and committed to social justice. She studied sociology and graduated cum laude in 2020.
Gorman’s art focuses on race and feminism. She has performed before Hillary Clinton and Malala Yousafzai as well as other political and cultural leaders. She has written for both The New York Times and Nike, and she has read her poems all across the country, including at the Library of Congress, where she performed as the National Youth Poet Laureate.
In an interview for Time magazine with Michelle Obama, Gorman touched on the recent surge of creativity in Black art. “We’re seeing it in dance, we’re seeing it in music. In all the forms of expression of human life, we’re seeing that artistry be informed by the Black experience,” she said. “I can’t imagine anything more exciting than that.”
Gorman has signed with Penguin Random House and is set to publish three books with the company. Her newest book, “Change Sings,” is to be released on Sept. 21, 2021. It is Gorman’s debut children’s book featuring illustrations by No. 1 New York Times Bestselling Illustrator Loren Long. According to the blurb, the book follows a young girl that leads a band of people on a musical adventure as they learn their power to create change “in the world, in their communities, and … most importantly, in themselves.”
“The Hill We Climb” is available now as a short book. Her third book with Penguin Random House, “The Hill We Climb and Other Poems,” containing the inaugural poem and additional works, is expected to be published in September 2021.
In her interview with Time magazine, when Obama asked about advice she has for young girls, Gorman switched the question around and asked if they had any advice for her, noting that she is still learning how to deal with her new fame and value herself and her creative work consistently.
“Especially for girls of color, we’re treated as lightning or gold in the pan — we’re not treated as things that are going to last. You really have to crown yourself with the belief that what I’m about and what I’m here for is way beyond this moment. I’m learning that I am not lightning that strikes once,” Gorman said. “I am the hurricane that comes every single year, and you can expect to see me again soon.”