Arthur Sze
Library of Congress News:
This National Poetry Month, the Library of Congress has appointed Arthur Sze to serve a second term as the nation’s 25th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2026-2027, the Library announced today.
Sze, who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was named poet laureate in September 2025 and began working to expand appreciation of poetry through his focus on translating poetry originally written in languages other than English. His newest book, “Transient Worlds: On Translating Poetry,” features translations from 13 languages and provides a personal guide to poetry in translation. The book is published today by Copper Canyon Press in association with the Library of Congress.
Sze’s first term will conclude on April 30 when he will return to the Library for a rare, special conversation with the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Simon Armitage, on the art and process of writing and translating poetry. Armitage has a new translation of “Gilgamesh,” also publishing April 14. Register here for free tickets to this Live! At the Library event.
In his second term, Sze is crafting his signature project, “Words Bridging Worlds,” and will embark on a U.S. tour to host public events, including readings, moderated discussions and workshops focused on poetry and translation. Queens College of the City of New York is partnering with Sze to support the tour’s workshops through the college’s MFA program in creative writing and literary translation.
“It has been a great honor to serve as U.S. Poet Laureate from 2025-2026. During my first term, I assembled a collection, ‘Transient Worlds: On Translating Poetry,’ that features 23 poems from 13 languages,” Sze said. “The book is a vehicle to widen and deepen the appreciation of poetry through the lens of poetry in translation; and, for my second term, 2026-2027, I am excited to embark on taking my signature project, ‘Words Bridging Worlds,’ to multiple cities to celebrate poetry and poetry in translation, and where people can use the book to try translating poems from another language into English.”
The act of Congress that established the poet laureate position states the Librarian of Congress may appoint a laureate to serve in the prominent role for multiple terms. Poets laureate often pursue a signature project in a second term. Sze was previously honored with the Library’s 2024 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry.
“Arthur Sze is opening the world of poetry by giving us a unique view of his process of writing and translating poetry—and challenging students and the public to try writing and translating poetry as well,” said Acting Librarian of Congress Robert Randolph Newlen. “The Library of Congress is proud to reappoint Arthur Sze, a leading poet of our time, as our nation’s 25th U.S. Poet Laureate.”
Sze joins a long line of distinguished poets who have served as Poet Laureate, including Ada Limón, Joy Harjo, Tracy K. Smith, Juan Felipe Herrera, Charles Wright, Natasha Trethewey, Philip Levine, W.S. Merwin, Kay Ryan, Charles Simic, Donald Hall, Ted Kooser, Louise Glück, Billy Collins, Stanley Kunitz, Robert Pinsky, Robert Hass and Rita Dove, among others.
About Arthur Sze
Arthur Sze was born in New York City in 1950 to Chinese immigrants. He is the author of 12 poetry collections, most recently “Into the Hush” (2025), as well as the prose collection “The White Orchard: Selected Interviews, Essays, and Poems” (2025). His other poetry collections include “The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems” (2021), which received a 2024 Science and Literature Award from the National Book Foundation; “Sight Lines” (2019), which won the National Book Award for Poetry; “Compass Rose” (2014), a Pulitzer Prize finalist; “The Ginkgo Light” (2009), selected for the PEN Southwest Book Award and the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Book Award; “The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970–1998” (1998), selected for the Balcones Poetry Prize and the Asian American Literary Award; and “Archipelago” (1995), selected for an American Book Award. Sze has also published an expanded collection of Chinese poetry translations, “The Silk Dragon II” (2024).
In addition to the Bobbitt Prize, Sze’s honors include the Bollingen Prize for American Poetry from Yale University, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation, a Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, a Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers, a Lannan Literary Award and a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Howard Foundation, and five grants from the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry. A former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets (2012–2017) and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife, the poet Carol Moldaw, where he served as the city’s first poet laureate.
About the Poet Laureate Position
The Library of Congress Literary Initiatives Office is the home of the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, a position that has existed since 1937 when Archer M. Huntington endowed the Chair of Poetry at the Library. Since then, many of the nation’s most eminent poets have served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress and, after the passage of Public Law 99-194 (Dec. 20, 1985), as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry — a position that the law states “is equivalent to that of Poet Laureate of the United States.”
During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry. In recent years, laureates have initiated poetry projects that broaden the audiences for poetry.
For more information on the Poet Laureate and the Literary Initiatives Office, visit loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/. Consultants in Poetry and Poets Laureate Consultants in Poetry and their terms of service can be found at loc.gov/poetry/laureate-2011-present.html. To learn more about Poet Laureate projects, visit loc.gov/poetry/laureate-projects.html.
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