In her second term, which starts Sept. 1, Harjo will focus on a project called “Living Nations, Living Words: A Map of First Peoples Poetry,” a digital interactive map featuring contemporary Native poets, including videos of them reading their work. It will be added to the Library’s historical collection of maps, which is among the largest in the world. After the coronavirus pandemic began, Hayden said, Harjo’s project “had even more resonance, in terms of telling stories and using poetry therapeutically.”

“If you can’t leave home or travel, you can travel with these poets,” Hayden added. “You can travel through geography.”

Harjo, 68, has dedicated her career to making Native people and their stories visible, exploring tribal histories, spirituality and feminist issues in nine collections of poetry. For her most recent book, “An American Sunrise,” she traveled to the site where her ancestors were forcibly removed in the 1800s as a way to draw a spiritual connection with them. In August, a collection of work by Native poets that she edited is set to be published by W.W. Norton.

Born in Tulsa, Okla., and raised on Native land, Harjo is the eldest of four children. At a performing arts high school and later the University of New Mexico and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she explored literature as well as art and music.

In addition to her poetry, she has written a memoir, “Crazy Brave,” that shed light on a troubled childhood, as well as children’s and young adult books. She has also released several albums and won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, which is granted to a living American poet who has produced extraordinary work.