Penguin Random House To Publish Poetry Collection By Amanda Gorman
“Call Us What We Carry” will be published on December 7 and also includes “The Hill We Climb,” the poem the young poet recited at U.S. President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
At the inauguration of the incoming U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington, DC on January 20, he young poet Amanda Gorman moved the world with her poem “The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country”. The hardcover edition of the poem, published by Viking Books (Penguin Random House) on March 30 in the U.S. with a print run of one million copies and a foreword by famous TV host Oprah Winfrey, debuted at #1 on the “New York Times,” “USA Today,” “Wall Street Journal” and independent bookstores’ bestseller lists. An audiobook edition, narrated by the author herself, was published concurrently by Penguin Random House and in the U.K. by Chatto & Windus, which is also part of Penguin Random House. Translation rights were sold in more than 20 countries. A collection of poems by Amanda Gorman is now planned for publication on December 7. It is entitled “Call Us What We Carry” and will once again be published in the U.S. by Viking Books. The first printing is expected to be one million copies.
The poetry collection was originally to be titled “The Hill We Climb and Other Poems” and was to be published as early as September – and the collection still includes the poem “The Hill We Climb,” of course. Penguin Random House says, “Call Us What We Carry” is “Gorman at her finest.” Bursting with musical language and exploring themes of identity, grief, and memory, the collection captures an important moment in the country’s consciousness while being utterly timeless, says the publisher. An audiobook edition, once again narrated by Gorman, will be published concurrently by Penguin Random House Audio.
Message of hope
“I wrote ‘Call Us What We Carry’ as a lyric of hope and healing,” says Amanda Gorman. “I wanted to pen a reckoning with the communal grief wrought by the pandemic. It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever written, but I knew it had to be. For me, this book is a receptacle, a time capsule both made by and for its era. What is poetry if not a mirror for our present and a message for our future?” Tamar Brazis, Editorial Director at Viking Books for Young Readers, says, “Amanda Gorman is one of the most exciting voices in American poetry. Even when her poems are tackling themes of conflict and adversity, her message of hope always shines through.”
Amanda Gorman was the sixth and youngest poet to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration. Her recitation of “The Hill We Climb” generated widespread positive media coverage. For example, “The New Yorker” called the poem “a stunning vision of democracy,” and “Vogue” called it “deeply rousing and uplifting.” As planned, the picture book “Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem” will be published by Viking Books for Young Readers on September 21, also with a first printing of one million copies. It is illustrated by Loren Long, illustrator of several “New York Times” bestsellers. “Change Sings” is about a young girl who leads various characters on a musical journey on which they realize that everyone has the power to bring about change in the world, their surroundings, and most importantly, in themselves.
