for ages 12-18

Join us for a writing workshop and Q & A with National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman. During this interactive virtual workshop, Amanda will guide participants in a poetry exercise, then answer questions about her work. Participants will be required to provide their own writing materials. We’ll provide the inspiration.

Check out Amanda’s performance on CBS here, or her appearance on SGN with John Krasinski here.

About Amanda: At 22, Amanda Gorman is heralded as “the next great figure in American poetry.” Amanda made history in 2017 by being named the first ever National Youth Poet Laureate in the United States. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she is a recent graduate of Harvard, where she studied Sociology. Since publishing a poetry collection at 16, her writing has 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 4th of July and Thanksgiving poems for CBS 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 currently writes for the New York Times newsletter The Edit and recently signed a two-book deal with Viking (a division of Penguin Random House) after a bidding war involving eight publishers. Most recently, she traveled to Slovenia with Prada as a reporter on the company’s latest sustainability project, and penned the manifesto for Nike’s 2020 Black History Month campaign. She is the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.

Amanda had been invited as the Library’s summer Writer in Residence and she has graciously offered to host this virtual event since she can no longer be in Paris this June. We look forward to welcoming her in person when that is possible.

This event is free and open to the public (ages 12-18). This event will be hosted virtually via Zoom. Registered participants will be sent a link to join the event. Advance registration is required for Teen Nights (register HERE).

Send an email to Celeste, our Children’s and Teens’ Services Manager, with questions about events and collections for ages 0-18: celeste@americanlibraryinparis.org. Participation in teen events is free for Library members.

Photo courtesy of Kelia Anne.