Joy Harjo is a poet, musician, and author. Born in Oklahoma, she took her paternal grandmother's surname when she enrolled in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She is an important figure in the second wave of the literary Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completed her undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico in 1976, and earned an M.F.A. at the University of Iowa in its Creative Writing Program.
