Doreen St. Félix

Like many people, Doreen St. Félix first encountered the 23-year-old poet Amanda Gorman on Inauguration Day. “The strangest image—of this small Black woman in bright primary colors—really shook my view,” the New Yorker staff writer recalls. “I had so many older Black women in my life texting me, being like, ‘Who is this person?’ I ended up going down a rabbit hole.” For this issue’s cover story (“Supernova,” page 96), St. Félix met up with Gorman (after multiple negative COVID-19 tests) in Los Angeles, where, among other things, the two discussed Oprah, the best sunscreens for dark complexions, and the political convictions of Gen Z. “She’s part of this generation that, from a very young age, has seen maturation as being a part of their youth,” St. Félix says of the 2017 National Youth Poet Laureate. “From 13 or 14, they’re already starting careers. So she may be young, but in many ways she’s a veteran.”