Amanda Gorman

“Writing wasn't just a form of expression. It was a form of pathology by embarking on spoken word over and over and over again and reciting my poems.”

“But as for the future, I foresee a world which is more creative, more open, more loving, more ecologically friendly, more honest about its history and progress, and I think a lot of those contributions will be made by young people.”

“As a young black woman, I notice at times in the mainstream media framing of the 'me too' movement you see a white female face or a white male face, and that type of questioning and interrogation needs to happen.”

“I grew up at this incredibly odd intersection in Los Angeles, where it felt like the black 'hood met black elegance met white gentrification met Latin culture met wetlands.”

“Whenever I listen to songs, I rewrite them in my head.”

“When you're someone who's lived a life where certain resources were scarce, you always feel like abundance is forbidden fruit.”

“I try to approach reading in front of millions of people as I would reading in somebody's living room.”

“What contributed to my writing early on is how my mom encouraged it. She kept the TV off because she wanted my siblings and I to be engaged and active. So we made forts, put on plays, musicals, and I wrote like crazy.”

“I think that's the challenge of our generation: if we are all technology natives, how do we live with influence both online and off, and how do we make sure that both of those aren't lacking in some type of deeper human connection and substance?”

“I think we run into issues when our online brands are not rooted in who we are, and I think we need to have explicit discussions with ourselves about who we want to be, what we want to represent, and how we want to express that.”

“Let each dawn find us courageous, brought closer, heeding the lights before the fight is over.”

“My speech impediment wasn't a stutter but it was dropping several letters that I just could not say for several years, most specifically the 'r' sound.”

“What's really funny about being National Youth Poet Laureate is that not everyone even knows it exists.”

“I was born early, along with my twin, and a lot of times, for infants, that can lead to learning delays.”

“To hone my voice, I read everything, from books to cereal boxes, three times: once for fun, the second time to learn something new about the writing craft, and the third time was to improve that piece.”

“It wasn't until I was named Youth Poet Laureate of L.A. in high school though that I officially began calling myself a poet. I just always loved writing, period.”

“I did a lot of sitting back and thinking about what I wanted for myself and what I wanted for my country: more unity, more support for the arts and more opportunities for young writers from marginalized groups.”

“I don't want it to be something that becomes a cage, where to be a successful Black girl, you have to be Amanda Gorman and go to Harvard. I want someone to eventually disrupt the model I have established.”

“I was writing since I can remember - I just didn't know it was poetry yet, or that writing could be a career.”

“My mom wanted to make sure I was prepared to grow up with Black skin in America.”