10 Fun Facts About Amanda Gorman, US Youngest Inaugural Poet

The world was watching when a young American identified as Amanda Gorman stunned with words during the inauguration ceremony of the 46th President of the United States.

Standing before Joe Biden, president-elect, and Kamala Harris, his vice, the Los Angeles-born writer, dazzled the world on Wednesday with her sheer confidence as she delivered ‘The Hill We Climb’, one of her latest poems, at the presidential inauguration.

Microblogging app, Twitter couldn’t hold the praise for the young poet who got some users such as Oprah Winfrey to bring back the memory of legendary poet, Maya Angelou.

Here Are 10 Things To Know About Amanda Gorman

1. Amanda Gorman was born on the 7th of March, 1998 in Los Angeles, California.
2. She was raised by her mother, a teacher named Joan Wicks, with her two siblings.
3. Gorman has a twin sister, Gabrielle, who is an activist.
4. She had a speech impediment as a child  – a challenge she shares with Biden.
5. To overcome her speech impediment, she started writing. At 14, she joined WriteGirl, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization, that helps teen girls discover the power of their voice through creative writing.
6. At 16, the young lady became Los Angeles’ youth poet laureate. She thereafter continued to pull the strings, becoming the national youth poet laureate — about three years later — while studying sociology at Harvard.
7. She was invited to the presidential inauguration by Jill Biden, the president-elect’s wife, who had seen a reading she gave at the Library of Congress last year.
8. In 2017, Gorman said she wants to run for president in 2036.
9. She delivered her poem ‘The Hill We Climb‘ at President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021, and is the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration in United States history. ‘The Hill We Climb’ was inspired by the Capitol Hill invasion on January 6 and how to move America forward.
10. Amanda Gorman was invited to the presidential inauguration by Jill Biden, the president-elect’s wife, who had seen a reading she gave at the Library of Congress last year.