Tracy K. Smith Named Harvard Arts Medalist

 The U.S. poet laureate will be honored on May 2. 

Tracy K. Smith

Photograph © Rachel Eliza Griffiths

Tracy K. Smith ’94, poet laureate of the United States, will receive the Harvard Arts Medal during the opening ceremony of Arts First (May 2-5), the University’s annual celebration of student, faculty, and community art-making featuring more than 100 performers. Smith won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for her collection Life on Mars; she is known for her lyrical, meditative poems. Her most recent collection, Wade in the Water (2018), is her most political. Smith’s involvement in the Dark Room Collective, a haven for black poetry in the 1980s and ’90s, was described in this magazine’s March-April 2016 issue

The Arts Medal is awarded each year to a “Harvard or Radcliffe graduate or faculty member who has achieved excellence in the arts and has made a contribution through the arts to education or the public good.” Last year’s recipient was novelist Colson Whitehead ’91

Read more articles by Marina N. Bolotnikova

You might also like

Trump Administration Alleges Harvard Violated Student Civil Rights

In a court filing, the University says government has ignored procedure to “inflict pain.”

John Goldberg named Dean of Harvard Law School

A professor at HLS since 2008, he steps up from the interim role.

Nieman Foundation Names Henry Chu as Interim Curator

Veteran LA Times journalist calls attention to press freedom

Most popular

House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs

The University must turn over all requested materials related to tuition and financial aid by mid-July. 

The Power of Patience

Teaching students the value of deceleration and immersive attention

The Professor Who Quantified Democracy

Erica Chenoweth’s data shows how—and when—authoritarians fall.

Explore More From Current Issue

Walter Wick’s I Spy Series

I Spy Creator Walter Wick at the Norman Rockwell Museum 

Harvard Summer Reading Picks | 2025

The wealth gap, shamanism, the life of David Nathan, and more

Harvard’s Comedy and Improv Scene

In comedy groups, students find ways to be absurd, present, and a little less self-conscious.