Biden inauguration puts American poet Amanda Gorman on the bestseller list
President Joe Biden’s poet raised a superstar on Thursday, after a powerful reading at the American inauguration a day earlier, 22-year-old Amanda Gorman catapulted to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list.
Hours after Gorman’s electric appearance at the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, her two books – neither out yet – topped Amazon’s bestseller list.
“I AM ON THE FLOOR MY BOOKS ARE # 1 & # 2 ON AMAZON AFTER 1 DAY!” Gorman, a Los Angeles resident, wrote on Twitter.
Gorman’s debut poetry collection “The Hill We Climb” won the top spot in the online retail giant’s sales lists, closely followed by her upcoming “Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem”.
While the popularity of poetry is increasing, it is still a niche market and the openness of the night clearly got Gorman short.
“Thank you so much to everyone for supporting me and my words. As Yeats put it,” For words alone, some are good: Sing, then. “
On a day for the history books, @TheAmandaGorman delivered a poem that more than met the moment. Young people like her are proof that “there is always light, if we are only brave enough to see it; if we are just brave enough to be that.” pic.twitter.com/mbywtvjtEH
– Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 20, 2021
Gorman, the youngest poet in US history to mark the transition from presidential power, offered a hopeful vision for a deeply divided country in Wednesday’s rendition.
“Being American is more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we step into and how we repair it,” Gorman said on the steps to the American capital two weeks after it was stormed by a crowd and after a year of global protests. racial justice.
“We will not march back to what was. We are moving to what is to become, a land that is wounded but whole. Benevolent but bold. Hard and free.”
Gorman told the Associated Press last week that she planned to combine a message of hope for Biden’s inauguration without ignoring “evidence of division and fragmentation.” She had completed just over half of “The Hill We Climb” before the January 6 siege by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
“That day gave me a second wave of energy to end the poem,” Gorman told the AP.
Her performance on Wednesday garnered immediate praise, with praise from across the country and political spectrum, from the Republican-backed Lincoln project to former President Barack Obama.
“Wasn’t @ TheAmandaGorman’s poem just amazing? She has promised to go to President 2036 and I for one can not wait,” tweeted former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
A graduate of Harvard University, Gorman, says she overcame a speech impediment in her youth and became the first American National Youth Poetry Award winner in 2017.
She has now joined in August inaugural poets such as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou.
Aware of the past, Gorman wore earrings and a cage bird ring – a tribute to Angelou’s classic memoir “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” – which she received from TV host Oprah Winfrey, a close friend of the late author.
Gorman’s social media was enough, with her tens of thousands of followers flying to a Twitter fan base of one million plus.
“I’ve never been more proud to see another young woman rise! Brava Brava, @TheAmandaGorman! Maya Angelou cheers – and so do I,” Winfrey tweeted.
Gorman’s books will both be published in September.
Third on Amazon’s bestseller list was another picture book linked to politics and projected hope: “Ambitious Girl” by Vice President Kamala Harris’ niece, Meena Harris.
( Jowharwith REUTERS and AP)
