Joy Harjo, Natasha Trethewey Named AAP Chancellors
The Academy of American Poets has named Joy Harjo and Natasha Trethewey its newest chancellors, an honorary position that has been held by some of the most distinguished poets in the United States, including W. H. Auden, John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, Lucille Clifton, Yusef Komunyakaa, Adrienne Rich, and Mark Strand. As members of the AAP's Board of Chancellors, Harjo and Trethewey will consult with the organization on matters of artistic programming, serve as judges for the organization’s largest prizes for poets, and act as ambassadors of poetry in the world at large. The new chancellors were elected by the current members—Elizabeth Alexander, Ellen Bass, Marilyn Chin, Kwame Dawes, Forrest Gander, Linda Gregerson, Terrance Hayes, Brenda Hillman, Marie Howe, Khaled Mattawa, Alicia Ostriker, Alberto Ríos, and David St. John—and will be filling the seats vacated by Marilyn Nelson and Claudia Rankine, whose terms have concluded. New chancellors serve for a period of six years.
