As part of the National Endowment for the Humanities A More Perfect Union initiative and to celebrate its 50th anniversary, Kentucky Humanities, in partnership with Northern Kentucky University, will host U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo and Kentucky Poet Laureate, Crystal Wilkinson who will discuss social justice, inclusion, and storytelling through poetry.

Joy Harjo, the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, is a member of the Mvskoke Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground). She is the author of nine books including her most recent Poet Warrior: A Memoir and the highly acclaimed An American Sunrise, and has received numerous awards and accolades for poetry. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, has produced seven award-winning musical albums and her poetry will be included on a plaque on LUCY, a NASA spacecraft on reconnaissance of the Jupiter Trojans.

Crystal Wilkinson, an African American feminist writer, is the Poet Laureate of Kentucky and proponent of the Affrilachian Poet movement. She is a 2020 USA Fellow of Creative Writing and a 2021 O. Henry Prize winner. She teaches at the University of Kentucky and is the acclaimed author of Perfect Black, The Birds of Opulence, Blackberries Blackberries, and Water Street.

Eric H. Kearney is the President/CEO of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce and President of the Northern Kentucky University Foundation. He has had a distinguished career in law, business, and politics. As a state senator, Eric served as Ohio Senate Minority Leader and championed a number of causes including creating Ohio’s Poet Laureate. He founded and built one of the largest African American owned publishing companies, Sesh Communications, which publishes The Cincinnati Herald, The Northern Kentucky Herald, The Dayton Defender, and other publications. Eric serves on many prestigious civic and community boards and has been recognized by the United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s Joseph A. Hall Award for Promoting Diversity, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Cincinnati, College of Law. Eric earned a B.A. in English from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from the University of Cincinnati, College of Law.