Women’s History Month: Ada Limón
American poet Ada Limón
Credit: Shawn Miller, Library of Congress
March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.
Pioneers venture into unknown territories and uncharted waters. A genuine poetry pioneer, Ada Limón has found new ways to interact with readers and big emotions. Limón was named poet laureate of the United States in 2022. The poet laureate is appointed by the librarian of Congress and works to increase the national appreciation and awareness of poetry. Limón, who is of Mexican American heritage, was the first Hispanic American woman chosen for the position. She succeeded the American poet and musician Joy Harjo, who was the poet laureate from 2019 to 2022.
Limon’s style is melodic and accessible. The images in her poetry often embrace the natural world, in which she frequently finds a sense of wonder. The librarian of Congress Carla Hayden praised Limon’s poems for exploring “the beauty and heartbreak that is living, in ways that help us move forward.”
Limon’s first poetry collections were Lucky Wreck and This Big Fake World: A Story in Verse (both 2006). Her third collection, Sharks in the Rivers (2010), considers the possibility of embracing change and finding beauty in a risky, ever-changing world. Bright Dead Things (2015) deals with carrying on and preserving one’s identity in the face of loss and alienation. Her poetry collections also include The Carrying (2018) and The Hurting Kind (2022).
Ada Limón was born on March 28, 1976, in Sonoma, California. She completed a B.A. degree in drama at the University of Washington in 1998. She earned an M.F.A. degree in creative writing from New York University in 2001. She worked in marketing for magazine firms in New York City, before she began writing full time in 2010.
In 2014, Limón began teaching in the M.F.A. program of Queens University of Charlotte, in North Carolina. She often gives readings of her poetry. In 2021 and 2022, she was the host of the poetry podcast called “The Slowdown,” which offers a few moments of reflection through the reading of a poem each weekday. The podcast was launched in 2019 by the poet Tracy K. Smith during her term as poet laureate of the United States.
