Ada Limón broke barriers last year: she was the first Latina named poet laureate in the United States.
This Monday, he paved the way again: now as the first person in that position to be selected to repeat in office.
Limón began in the position last September.
She was chosen to continue in recognition of the strides she has made in bringing poetry "to new audiences," according to Carla Hayden, who directs the Library of Congress.
Limón, born in California to a Mexican family, has sought to make several alliances with different government agencies to promote poetry, and those programs will benefit if she remains in office until 2025, Hayden said.
"My first period was to discover who I was in this public role and what I wanted to achieve. The second is very exciting, because in it imagination
will be brought to reality
," Limón told Noticias Telemundo.
"I'm really excited to see how those projects play out," he adds.
A writer of Mexican origin will be the first Latina woman to be the US poet laureate.
July 12, 202200:33
Among his plans is a
collaboration with NASA
to write a poem that will be recorded on the spacecraft that will set sail for Jupiter's moon Europa in 2024.
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In the fall, he will also unveil details of a partnership with the US National Park Service to promote poetry from these recreation sites.
"Those collaborations mean a lot to me, because poetry and the natural world are completely intertwined. With both we have the opportunity to experience
wonder, admiration and mystery
," says Limón.
America's Poets Laureates are officially designated to promote literature from the Library of Congress.
And sometimes to compose special pieces, for example for a presidential inauguration.
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Those in office are appointed to either one-year or two-year terms.
Limón, the 24th poet laureate, is the first person to be elected to the longest term.
When asked
what poem he thought of
when they told him they wanted him to stay on, Limón says "How to Triumph Like a Girl" from his
Bright Dead Things collection came to mind.
The poem imagines what it would be like to have a heart as brave as that of mares racing at 40 miles per hour, "an 8-pound
female horse heart, giant with power, heavy with blood
).
"
Talk about having courage. And who would have known that I was going to need it? I guess Ada when she was young," says Limón.
