Joy Harjo, the incumbent United States Poet Laureate, presents a portrait of her early years and life as an Indigenous American in the 20th century.

Born a disenfranchised Native American on colonized land, the daughter of an alcoholic, and becoming a mother to two children by her mid-twenties, creativity was a rare luxury throughout Joy Harjo's early life.

Nonetheless, Harjo would eventually become one of the key figures of the Native American Renaissance in the late 20th century, and the second Poet Laureate to serve three terms.

Crazy Brave presents a comprehensive, spiritual autobiography, beginning with Harjo's journey of creative self-discovery and culminating in her years in Santa Fe as a young artist.

Harjo's career has spanned poetry, music, academia, and activism: her writing similarly ranges, presenting a palimpsest of poems, autobiography, and historical record.