Translating a poem and other types of literature is an art form that differs from transcription. “And suddenly we can't imagine that person's artistic statement being rendered in another language appropriately by someone who isn't of her color and hasn't had those particular kinds of experiences as if they utterly define everything that she is.” “There's a sense that when it comes to Black people's relationship with white people, then all bets are off,” he says. He says Gorman’s racial identity shouldn’t be a determining factor in who translates her poem. Linguist and Columbia University professor John McWhorter disagrees. Neither translator was accused of doing a poor job, but recent controversy over who should translate the poem began when a Black Dutch style writer argued a translator who isn’t a Black female spoken word artist like Gorman shouldn’t translate her work. Gorman approved both white Dutch nonbinary writer Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and Catalan translator Victor Obiols to translate the poem.

But now, one translator dropped out and another was let go after mounting criticism. 20.īy one count, the poem has now been translated into 17 languages, all of the translators approved by Gorman herself. Millions of Americans heard 23-year-old Amanda Gorman recite her moving poem ' The Hill We Climb' at President Biden's inauguration on Jan. (Patrick Semansky/AP) This article is more than 2 years old. She is the recipient of the Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and is the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.American poet Amanda Gorman reads a poem during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. In 2017, Amanda Gorman was appointed the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate by Urban Word – a program that supports Youth Poets Laureate in more than 60 cities, regions and states nationally. She has written for the New York Times newsletter The Edit and penned the manifesto for Nike's 2020 Black History Month campaign. 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. Amanda has performed multiple commissioned poems for CBS This Morning and she has spoken at events and venues across the country, including the Library of Congress and Lincoln Center.

Now her words have won her invitations to the Obama White House and to perform for Lin-Manuel Miranda, Al Gore, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and others. She has written for the New York Times and has three books forthcoming with Penguin Random House.īorn and raised in Los Angeles, she began writing at only a few years of age. history, as well as an award-winning writer and cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Sociology. Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S.

Amanda gorman's poem the hill we climb