Amanda Gorman talks up new book

Los Angeles, CA (News4usOnline) – Amanda Gorman lit up the stage at USC’s Bovard Auditorium during the LA Times Festival of Books as she discussed her new picture book, Girls on the Rise. With her signature poise, humor, and magnetic energy, Gorman captivated the audience during the April 2025 event in an engaging conversation with a Los Angeles Times journalist.

Gorman is an American poet, activist, and author who gained international acclaim in 2021 when she became the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. At just 22 years old, she delivered her powerful poem, The Hill We Climb, at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, inspiring millions with her eloquence and message of unity and hope.

She shared the inspiration behind her latest work, which aims to empower young girls to rise above societal challenges with courage, resilience, and hope.

Gorman’s body of work often explores themes of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, using poetry to inspire social change. In addition to her inaugural poem, she has authored several books, including Call Us What We Carry and the children’s picture book Change Sings.

During the conversation, Gorman reflected on the role poetry plays in societal transformation

“If you look historically and sociologically, poetry tends to be the language of the people. It tends to be the language that we mobilize as a rhetoric for transformation in ourselves and in the world,” Gorman said. “Poetry tends to honor seeing us at our best and our worst self, and doing that in a really particular unit of sound. We have such little space, such little time to communicate poetry, that we have to make sure we mean what we say and say what we mean.”

She also emphasized the message behind Girls on the Rise

“The power that there is in unity, in coming together—I think that was really what I wanted the message of the book to be,” she said. “There are a lot of children’s books, which I love and live for, but they can be a little bit individualistic. That’s why I wrote a few of these children’s books. I really wanted to focus on the plural pronoun we—to have a children’s book that is, yes, about you, but also about what happens when we come together.”

Gorman also touched on the book’s inclusive message and her hope that Girls on the Rise speaks to all audiences

“I wanted everyone to feel welcome in this book. The illustrations and language—it’s titled Girls on the Rise, but it’s also about everyone else who is part of that movement. I think patriarchy and toxic masculinity are imprisoning not just to women, but to men, particularly boys, who are taught that emotions, connection, and authenticity are not okay because they’re seen as weak. The more we flip that on its head—the idea that so-called feminine attributes like empathy, compassion, and connectivity make us strong, not weak—that’s a message boys need to hear. It’s a message nonbinary children need to hear. It’s a message for everyone, because it honors a shared community.”

During her panel, Gorman was asked about the recent controversy surrounding her book being restricted in a Florida school library, The Hill We Climb. The book, which contains the poem she recited at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. While the book was not entirely banned, its limited access sparked national conversations about censorship and the importance of preserving diverse voices in literature 

“This isn’t just a poem—this was a piece that was recited at the inauguration of the president. It’s part of the history of the peaceful transition of power in the United States. So to erase it—not just erasing me—is to erase the language and the rhetoric and the message that was part of these young readers’ country,” Gorman stated.

“You’re erasing an act of history and to make that inaccessible to young readers… Why does any child have to prove themselves worthy of reading? Reading stories? Reading poetry? We have to ask ourselves what’s wrong with what we’re doing here. And so that was really perplexing, confusing. I was absolutely really grieving and mourning that,” she added.

Following her panel, Gorman hosted a book signing session where attendees had the opportunity to purchase a copy of Girls on the Rise and get it signed by the author herself—making the experience all the more memorable for fans.