U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón will visit Readers’ Books on Sunday, September 29, at 1 p.m. She will read from her first picture book, In Praise of Mystery. The book features illustrations by Caldecott Honoree Peter Sís and contains a poem that will travel into space aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper. This poem celebrates human curiosity and explores what it means to venture beyond our known world, reflecting on how the unknown can mirror our own experiences.
Limón is the author of six poetry collections, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her earlier work, Bright Dead Things, was nominated for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Her latest collection, The Hurting Kind, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize.
In addition to her poetry, Limón has written two children’s books: In Praise of Mystery, illustrated by Sís, and And, Too, The Fox, set to be released in 2025. In October 2023, she received a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and was recognized as a TIME magazine Woman of the Year in 2024. She also holds a Guggenheim fellowship and has written a poem that will be engraved on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, scheduled for launch to Jupiter’s second moon in October 2024.
As the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, Limón’s signature project, titled You Are Here, focuses on how poetry can connect us to the natural world. She will continue her role as Poet Laureate until the spring of 2025.
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