Renowned poet Ada Limón to visit Tulane in November
United States Poet Laureate Ada Limón will speak at Tulane University in the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life on Monday, November 4 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. as a part of Newcomb Institute’s annual Florie Gale Arons Poetry Program.
Limón has authored six notable poetry books and two innovative children’s books, one of which will be released in 2025. She is the recipient of prestigious accolades such as the National Books Critics Circle Award, the National Book Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.
The Florie Gale Arons Poetry Program has invited a reputable woman poet to campus every year since 1999 for a poetry reading and workshop. The program was established by the daughters of Florie Gale Arons (NC ‘50) to celebrate their mother’s 70th birthday and now continues to honor her memory.
“Newcomb Institute is honored to be bringing Ada Limón to campus as the 2024 Arons poet. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Arons poetry program, and we can think of no better way to honor that milestone,” said Laura Wolford, Associate Director and Director of Operations of the Newcomb Institute.
In March, Limón was named one of 12 TIME Magazine 2024 Women of the Year–an annual selection of trailblazers celebrated for their cultivation of a better future around the globe. Limón is also a recipient of the 2023 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and a 2020 recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Poetry.
In July 2022, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden appointed Limón the 24th United States poet laureate–a position dedicated to raising national consciousness to a greater appreciation of writing and poetry. The first female U.S. poet laureate of Latino and Mexican American heritage, Limón will finish out her historic two-year second term in April 2025.
“Limón’s poetry is accessible, profound, and deeply moving—engaged with the natural world and what it means to be alive. I am thrilled to bring her wisdom and perspective to campus, particularly on the eve of this year’s presidential election. I hope it might be a moment for us to pause, reflect, and just honor being together,” Wolford said.
Limón’s collection of poems “You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World” was published as Limón’s poet laureate project in April 2024 by Milkweed Editions in association with the Library of Congress. “You Are Here” is expected to continue throughout the remainder of the year with poetry installations on picnic tables in national parks across the country, with each picnic table featuring a historic American poem selected by Limón.
Limón’s poem, “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa”, which is engraved on a plaque carried upon NASA’s Europa Clipper Spacecraft, is set to be launched to the second moon of Jupiter in October 2024. The initiative is part of NASA’s “Message in a Bottle” campaign, which invited people across the globe to sign their names to the poem that will travel 1.8 billion miles throughout its journey to Jupiter and its moons.
Limón will lead a workshop on Sunday, November 3 with students and professors from Tulane, the University of New Orleans, Benjamin Franklin High School, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, and The Willow School New Orleans.
On Monday, November 4, students and faculty from the Tulane English department will have lunch with Limón followed by a Q&A and a book signing.
To learn more about Limón or to get information on her visit to Tulane, visit newcomb.tulane.edu.
