Laura Flanders and Friends: Solutions-Focused Progressive Perspectives on Politics, News, and Culture

From Pain to Poetry: Poet Laureate Joy Harjo's “Girl Warrior” Guide [Full Uncut Conversation]

Nov 21, 2025

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Synopsis: Join acclaimed poet Joy Harjo for an illuminating conversation on finding courage and embracing our stories, as she discusses her new guide "Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age"

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Description: We are in what today’s guest calls a dark night of our national soul. Many of us are feeling hopeless, uncomfortable and stuck, but it is possible to make it through the darkness. Generations before us survived the unthinkable; if the past has a story to tell, what’s today’s? This notion of coming into ourselves and embracing our stories is what Joy Harjo, the internationally renowned poet, performer, writer and activist of the Muscogee Creek Nation takes up in her long-spanning career. Harjo is just out with “Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age”, a guide, dedicated especially to Indigenous girls, for people trying to find their way in a time of transformation. She is the author of two American Book Awards winners: “In Mad Love and War” and “Crazy Brave”, and was executive editor of the groundbreaking “When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry”. She was the first Indigenous Poet Laureate and served three terms from 2019 to 2022. Join Harjo and Flanders for this illuminating conversation on finding courage this winter, plus a commentary from Laura on releasing the files on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls.

“We have to stand for what's right. You can't stand and watch a neighbor starving. We have to realize that ultimately we were created by a creator who loves diversity . . . The universal law is diversity. Universal law is love and connection. We're all connected.” - Joy Harjo

“The bone and the muscle of being human is stories. That's what we do. I remember years ago, thinking about what use are human beings to the ecosystem. I really couldn't find a reason that we were here, except that we make stories. It's important we express gratitude and that we're helpful to the other beings who live here.” - Joy Harjo

Guest: Joy Harjo (Mvskoke): Poet, Performer & Writer; Author, Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age

Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.

Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel November 23rd, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio starting November 26th (check here to see if your station is airing the show and air date & time) & available as a podcast.

RESOURCES:

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Related Articles and Resources:

• The Contagious Gen Z Uprisings, by Katrin Bennhold, October 19, 2025, The New York Times

• Exclusive: Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Unveils Four New Portraits, by Emily Burack, October 22, 2025, Town & Country

• High youth death rates are an ‘emerging crisis’, global health study, by Kat Lay, October 12, 2025, The Guardian

• Joy Hard Honored With Portrait of a Nation Award at Smithsonian Gala, by Levi Rickert, November 16, 2025, Native News Online

• Joy Harjo’s Inaugural Reading as U.S. met Laureate, September 19, 2019, Library of Congress

• Health Disparities in Suicide, Suicide Prevention, May 16, 2024, CDC

• Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2019-2022 - Library of Congress

• “Shelter in Place Sessions”, 2020, featuring Joy Harjo, Southwest Roots Music - Watch

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

Music Credit: 'Thrum of Soil' by Bluedot Sessions, and original sound design by Jeannie Hopper

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Chapters:

Introducing Joy Harjo's Guide for Our Times