When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry is edited by  Joy Harjo of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and was named the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States in 2019; with Leanne Howe, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Jennifer Elise Foerster, a member of the Muscogee Nation; and contributing editors. This anthology gathers the work of more than 160 poets, representing nearly 100 indigenous nations. This landmark anthology celebrates the Indigenous peoples of North America whose literary traditions stretch back centuries. When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, contains powerful introductions from contributors who represent traditional oral literatures each section closes with emerging poets, ranging from Eleazar, a seventeenth-century Native student at Harvard, to Jake Skeets, a young Diné poet born in 1991, and including renowned writers such as Luci Tapahanso, Natalie Diaz, Layli Long Soldier, and Ray Young Bear.