Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman to Perform at DNC

Amanda Gorman, the country's first national youth poet laureate, will take the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night to perform a new poem, "This Sacred Scene", in support of Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

Gorman's performance at the DNC comes over three years after she recited her original poem "The Hill We Climb" at President Joe Biden's inauguration in 2021. Her upcoming poem is inspired by the "atmosphere of change and unity," according to Vanity Fair.

“It’s such a big convention... I’m used to speaking at one-time, one-day events," Gorman told Vanity Fair. "This is a four-day magical convening of so many other speakers that I want to really do justice to the occasion.”

Performance Details

Gorman is set to perform “This Sacred Scene” at 9:45 p.m. ET / 6:45 p.m. PT at The United Center in Chicago, the venue for the 2024 Democratic National Convention. USA TODAY will provide livestream coverage on YouTube each night of the DNC, Monday through Thursday. You can watch Gorman's poem here.

About Amanda Gorman

Gorman is considered the nation's first national youth poet laureate and the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, as previously reported by USA TODAY. She began writing at an early age to cope with a speech impediment, growing up in Los Angeles with her mom, who was a public-school teacher. Gorman joined WriteGirl, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping teen girls use creative writing to discover their voice, at age 14.

She was named the Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles by age 16, becoming the first national poet laureate three years later while studying sociology at Harvard University.

Gorman's Appearance at Biden Inauguration

Gorman was invited to recite her original poem "The Hill We Climb" at The White House in 2021 to mark the start of Biden's presidency. In a roughly five-minute reading, Gorman celebrated the nation's diversity, called on Americans to leave their country better than they found it, and in a call for healing and unity, referenced the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, which had occurred earlier that month.

Amanda Gorman's inauguration poem: Read the full text of 'The Hill We Climb'

Contributing: Hannah Yasharoff and Charles Trepany, USA TODAY