Amanda S.C. Gorman is an extremely talented young poet who has created a huge buzz all over the world with her amazing writing skills and with phenomenal quality of an orator, in spite of having a speech impediment. She is an absolute example of perseverance in face of challenges. As a child, she experienced a chronic ear infection and developed an auditory processing disorder which caused her speech impediment. Her speech impediment was severe, words used to drop, there were several letters that she could not say for years, specifically the letter ‘r’, she had said because of vigorous practice and hard work she could climb the stair of success.
She is an American poet and activist born in 1998 in Los Angeles, raised by her single mother Joan Wicks with her twin sister Gabrielle. Her work is related to issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. Gorman is the first person to be named as National Youth Poet Laureate. She published her first poetry book “The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough” in 2015. She is the first young poet to open literary season for the Library of Congress in 2017.
This year, she delivered her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden. Amanda’s recitation at the inauguration was more special and meaningful because Joe Biden himself had also suffered and struggled with speech impediments. Her inauguration poem generated international praise and shortly after that two of her books gained best-seller status, and she achieved a professional management contract.
Overcoming all the hurdles she has reached a great height and has been very vocal about everything happening in society especially on the issues related to black people through her poems which gave her immense respect and applause. A history-setting youth poet Amanda Gorman had been interviewed by Michelle Obama too. Her confidence and way of presenting herself on stage with her reality-driven poems are captivated by the whole world.
Text by: Adrita Roy, IBTN9
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