Weil Lecture on American Citizenship with 24th U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón

Ada Limón, 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, will deliver the 78th Weil Lecture on American Citizenship on March 24, 2026. Her talk is titled, “The Invitation: Gathering Courage from the Natural World.” Reflecting on her time as U.S. Poet Laureate and her signature project, Limón will offer small lessons from the earth and from the stewards who work toward saving our most precious places. In her talk, Limón hopes to offer ways to fall back in love with the world during precarious times.

Limón’s poetry and other writings have been recognized for their intimate engagement with human connection and the natural world. Her signature project as U.S. Poet Laureate, “You Are Here,” is a celebration of poetry and nature that launched in 2024. As part of the project, Limón edited and introduced an anthology of poems titled . Another initiative, “Poetry in Parks,” installed works of art in seven national parks, each featuring a historic American poem chosen by Limón.

The Institute for the Arts and Humanities has hosted UNC’s Weil Lecture on American Citizenship since 2000. Brothers Henry and Solomon Weil established the lecture in 1915 to widen the discussion of the concept of American Citizenship in the United States. Presidents Taft and Carter, Eleanor Roosevelt, Senators J. William Fulbright and Nancy Kassebaum, and Professor Lester Thurow are among the many distinguished Weil lecturers. Other recent speakers have been members of Congress, diplomats, political commentators and renowned scholars.

Limón is the author of seven poetry books, including The Hurting Kind, The Carrying, and Bright Dead Things. In 2024, she was named a Time Magazine Woman of the Year. Limón is a National Book Critics Circle Award winner and a finalist for the Griffin Prize, the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, the National Book Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Award. She has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship.

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