Harjo Receives Ucross Distinguished Achievement Award

Ucross, the renowned artist residency program in northern Wyoming, presented internationally acclaimed performer, musician and writer Joy Harjo with the Ucross Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts during the intermission of her performance at the WYO Theater in Sheridan, Wyoming, on Saturday, February 25.

William Belcher presented the award and talked about when he first discovered Joy Harjo.

He added that he married the young lady that he shared the poems with. He mentioned that at 19 you are going through transformations, and said Joy talked about that yesterday, saying “These moments of transition are doorways, and poetry can be a doorway.”

Harjo is the second artist to receive this award; the first was the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx, a former Ucross artist-in-residence and member of the board of trustees, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City in 2018.

Belcher added about Harjo, and why Ucross presented her with the award.

Harjo had this to say about the award, and time she spent at Ucross.

Harjo recently concluded her historic third term as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. A member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, she was the first Native American to hold the post and the second poet laureate to be appointed a third term in the position’s history.