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Arthur Sze has been named the 25th U.S. Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress, succeeding Ada Limón. Sze, a child of Chinese immigrants, initially studied math and science at MIT before switching to poetry at UC Berkeley. He has since published 12 collections, including “Into the Hush” (2025), and has also worked as an editor and translator. He previously served as poet laureate of Sante Fe and won the National Book Award in 2019 for “Sight Lines.” Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen lauded Sze’s unique and “distinctly American” poetry, drawing comparisons to Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
Library of Congress has named Arthur Sze, seen here on July 18, its 2025-26 poet laureate.
Shawn Miller/Library of Congress
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Shawn Miller/Library of Congress
The Library Of Congress has announced Arthur Sze as the 25th U.S. poet laureate. Sze has had a decades-long career as a poet, with his work often drawing inspiration from philosophy, science and nature. He’s also an editor and translator of poetry. Sze will start on Oct. 9, taking over from Ada Limón.
Sze, born in New York City, is a child of Chinese immigrants. He studied math and science at MIT in 1968. But in a 1998 interview with WHYY’s Fresh Air, he said he found himself “totally bored” in a classroom, and found himself writing all the time instead. So he transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, to study poetry. Since then he’s written 12 poetry collections, including 2025’s Into the Hush.
In 2006 Sze became the poet laureate of Sante Fe, where he’s lived for a long time. In 2015, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. And in 2019, he won the National Book Award for his collection Sight Lines.
In the announcement, Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen praised Sze’s poetry as “distinctly American” in how he portrayed the Southwest. “Like Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, Sze forges something new from a range of traditions and influences – and the result is a poetry that moves freely throughout time and space.”
