Wordsmith. Change-maker.
Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, as well as an award-winning writer and cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Sociology. She has written for the New York Times and has three books forthcoming with Penguin Random House.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, she began writing at only a few years of age. Now her words 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. Amanda has 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. She has received a Genius Grant from OZY Media, as well as recognition from Scholastic Inc., YoungArts, the Glamour magazine 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. In 2017, Amanda Gorman was appointed the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate by Urban Word – a program that supports Youth Poets Laureate in more than 60 cities, regions and states nationally. She is the recipient of the Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and is the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.
Buy Amanda’s Work
Be the first to own Amanda’s debut children’s book, “Change Sings”, and poetry collection “The Hill We Climb”, both being released by Penguin Random House this September.
Change Sings is brought to life by #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long, the artist behind Barack Obama’s children’s book Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters. Written as a children’s anthem, Gorman’s book reminds the newest generation that they have the power to shape the word with their actions and voices.
The Hill We Climb And Other Poems is the debut poetry collection on hope and healing by inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, including the poem of the same title that she recited at the Biden Inauguration.
On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet, at age twenty-two, to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration. Her inaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb,” is now available to cherish and gift in this special edition.
