Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo
Harjo in 2012
Born	May 9, 1951 Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
Occupation	Author, poet, performer, educator
Nationality	Muscogee, American
Genre	Poetry, non-fiction, fiction
Literary movement	Native American Renaissance

Joy Harjo (born May 9, 1951) is a Muscogee poet, musician, and author. She is often cited as playing a formidable role in the second wave of the Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. She is the author of such books as Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (2015), Crazy Brave (2012), and How We Became Humans: New and Selected Poems 1975 - 2002 (2004).

Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on May 9th, 1951, as Joy Foster. Her father, Allen W. Foster was from a Creek Tribe family, and her mother, Wynema Baker Foster, has a Cherokee, French, and Irish background. Harjo was the oldest of four children.

She fully registered herself as a member of the Creek Tribe’s Mvskoke Branch and took on her grandmother’s last name “Harjo”(very common name within the Creek Tribe) when she was nineteen years old.

Her parents divorced after their marriage failed due to her father’s drinking and harsh behavior. He was an abusive drunk, both emotionally and physically. Harjo’s mother married a man who despised Indians and was also very abusive. Both traumatic childhood experiences took a negative toll on Joy Harjo. At one point she became afraid to speak which caused her to troubling moments with teachers at school.

Joy loved painting and found that it gave her the ability to express herself. At the age of sixteen she was kicked out of her house by her stepfather and she became a student at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Harjo married Phil Wilmon, another student, and had a son and they named him Phil Dayn. Harjo and Wilmon divorced later on.

She enrolled at the University of New Mexico, beginning as a PreMed student, and later changed to an Art Major. During her time there, she became a creative writing major and was inspired by different Native American writers.

After poetry readings with Simon Ortiz, he became a mentor for Harjo, and later they had a daughter Rainy Dawn.

She graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1976 and received her graduate degree from the University of Iowa after being accepted into the M.F.A Creative Writing Program.

Harjo has taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts from 1978-1979 and 1983-1984, Arizona State University from 1980-1981, the University of Colorado from 1985-1988, the University of Arizona from 1988-1990, and the University of New Mexico from 1991-1995.

She also went to the Anthropology Film Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to take classes on filmmaking.

Known primarily as a poet and musician, Harjo has played alto saxophone with the band Poetic Justice, edited literary journals, and written screenplays.

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