POUGHKEEPSIE – The Poughkeepsie Public Library District is pleased to coordinate the region’s Big Read project for the eleventh year. The 2017 book selection for the Mid-Hudson region is Joy Harjo’s poetry anthology, How We Became Human. Join us on Saturday, October 21, at 1:30 pm for the keynote speaker, Poet Joy Harjo.
Joy Harjo is an award-winning poet, a performer, professor, playwright, and musician. She is from Oklahoma; a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Joy is the 2017 recipient of the prestigious Ruth Lilly Prize in Poetry, which honors a living U.S. poet for outstanding lifetime achievement. Joy’s poetry captures everyday life and transcendent truth, specific Native experience and universal existence. “There is something here for everyone to enjoy and to learn from,” comments NEA Big Read Coordinator Jewel Ratzlaff.
The NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. It is designed to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. The NEA Big Read continues through November 10. For details on all Big Read programs stop by your local library for a calendar, follow the Poughkeepsie Public Library District on Facebook, or go to www.poklib.org and click on NEA Big Read.
![](https://hudsonvalleypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Walden_Savings_Bank1.gif")
![](https://hudsonvalleypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/FDR-Web.jpg")
