PIONEERS | SEEMA As she puts it, “We need many more female voices to tell authentic stories.”
At 17, Meera Dasgupta Has a Way With Words THE 2020 UNITED STATES YOUTH POET LAUREATE IS A CHANGE-MAKER AND A FIERCE ADVOCATE FOR STUDENTS AND GENDER EQUALITY
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t 17, she’s a wordsmith, change-maker, and a fierce advocate for students’ voices and gender equality. Meet Meera Dasgupta, the 2020 United States Youth Poet Laureate. Dasgupta, a senior at Stuyvesant High School, is the youngest national youth poet laureate. A 2020 United Nations Global Goals ambassador, a Federal Hall fellow, and winner of the Climate Speaks program and the Scholastic Arts and Writing award, Dasgupta has also performed at several pres-tigious venues around 54 | SEEMA.COM | MARCH 2021
BHARGAVI KULKARNI the country. In a Zoom call with SEEMA, she spoke about her role as a youth poet laureate, her activism, her future plans, and about Amanda Gorman, the young poet who dazzled the nation at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. LIFE AS A NATIONAL YOUTH POET LAUREATE “The youth poet laureate has many opportunities, and there’s definitely some leeway in terms of what we can do, which is why no one’s tenure is the same,” Dasgupta tells SEEMA. Among other things, Dasgupta has
published a book, writes a blog, publishes poems, holds workshops and gives interviews on different platforms. However, some of her engagements have been affected by the pandemic. “A lot of spoken words are [about] getting feedback from the audience – people clapping along,” she says, adding that performing virtually has its advantages. “I have been able to speak with people who I wouldn’t have been able to speak with before,” Das-gupta says. She has also mentored a girl in South Africa in public speaking.
