Ada Limón (born March 28, 1976) is an American poet.[1] On 12 July 2022, she was named the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States by the Librarian of Congress.[2][3][4] This made her the first Latina to be Poet Laureate of the United States.[5]

Ada Limón
Limón in 2022
Born	March 28, 1976 (age 46) Sonoma, California
Occupation	24th United States Poet Laureate
Alma mater	University of Washington New York University
Genre	Poetry

Early years and education

Limón, who is of Mexican-American descent, grew up in Sonoma, California. She attended the drama school at the University of Washington, where she studied theatre. After taking writing courses from professors including Colleen J. McElroy, she went on to receive her MFA from New York University in 2001,[6] where she studied with Sharon Olds, Philip Levine, Marie Howe, Mark Doty, Agha Shahid Ali, and Tom Sleigh.

Upon graduation, Limón received a fellowship to live and write at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. In 2003, she received a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and in the same year won the Chicago Literary Award for Poetry.^{[citation needed]}

Career

After 12 years in New York City, where she worked for various magazines such as Martha Stewart Living, GQ, and Travel + Leisure, Limón now lives in both Lexington, Kentucky and Sonoma, California, where she writes and teaches.[6]

Limón's first book, Lucky Wreck, was chosen by Jean Valentine as the winner of the Autumn House Poetry Prize in 2005, while her second book, This Big Fake World, was the winner of the Pearl Poetry Prize in 2006. The two books came out within less than a year of each other. In a 2014 article in Compose magazine, she stated: "I went from having no books at all, to having two in the span of a year. I felt like I had won the lottery, well, without the money. I suppose, in my life, I’ve never done things the ordinary way. I’m either deep in the bottom of the well or nowhere near water."[7] She serves on the faculty of Queens University of Charlotte low-residency M.F.A. program, and the "24 Pearl Street" online program for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center.

When her third book, Sharks in the Rivers (Milkweed Editions, 2010) was released, a reviewer writing in The Brooklyn Rail observed: "Unlike much contemporary poetry, Limón’s work isn’t text-derivative or deconstructivist. She personalizes her homilies, stamping them with the authenticity of invention and self-discovery."[8] Limón's fourth book, Bright Dead Things, was released in 2015. She was shortlisted as a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award for Poetry. Her 2018 book, The Carrying, subsequently won a National Book Critics Circle Award.[9]

Her poem "State Bird" appeared in the June 2, 2014 issue of The New Yorker, and her poem "How to Triumph Like a Girl" (2013), which portrays different aspects of female horses, was awarded the 2015 Pushcart Prize.[10][11] Her work has also appeared in the Harvard Review and the Pleiades.[12]

She has been a beneficiary of the Kentucky Foundation for Women.[4]

Awards and honors

In 2013, Limón served as a judge for the National Book Award for Poetry.[13]

In July 2022, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden appointed her the 24th United States Poet Laureate for the term of 2022-2023.[4]

Bibliography

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (March 2015)

Poetry

Collections

• Limón, Ada (2006). Lucky wreck. Autumn House Press.
• This Big Fake World, Pearl Editions, 2006 ISBN 978-1-888219-35-7
• Sharks in the rivers, Milkweed Editions, 2010 ISBN 978-1-57131-438-3
• Bright Dead Things, Milkweed Editions, 2015 ISBN 978-1-57131-925-8
• The Carrying, Milkweed Editions, 2018 ISBN 978-1-57131-512-0
• The Hurting Kind, Milkweed Editions, 2022 ISBN 978-1-63955-049-4
• Shelter: A Love Letter To Trees, Scribd Originals, 2022 ISBN 978-1-09444-438-3

Chapbooks

• 99¢ Heart, Big Game Books, 2007
• What Sucks Us In Will Surely Swallow Us Whole, Cinematheque Press, 2009

List of poems

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ada Limón.

• Official Site
• Official Blog
• "Crush", poem by Ada Limón, The New Yorker
• "Overjoyed", poem by Ada Limón, Harvard Review
• Two Poems by Ada Limón, "Marketing Life For Those Of Us Left" and "A Name"
• Two Poems by Ada Limón, "61 Trees" and "rest Stop"
• An Interview with Poet Ada Limón

На других языках

[ru] Лимон, Ада