Literature

National Library of Congress Announces New United States Poet Laureate

On September 15th, 2025 the National Library of Congress appointed Arthur Sze as the nation’s 25th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.

Alma Brown

06 Nov 2025 — 6 min read

Image from The New Mexico Magazine / Ramsay de Give

On September 15th, 2025 the National Library of Congress announced Arthur Sze as the nation's 25th Poet Laureate. The National Poet Laureate serves an important role in raising the American public's awareness and appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry. The poet laureate serves as the official poet of the United States and is appointed for a one or two year term. The first official U.S. Poet Laureate was Robert Penn Warren, appointed in 1986. Prior to the Poet Laureate, the Library of Congress would appoint a Consultant in Poetry dating back to 1936 with Joseph Auslander.

Arthur Sze is the first Asian American United States Poet Laureate and began his term this past September. He succeeds the most recent poet laureate, Ada Limón (2022-2025). Sze is the son of Chinese immigrants born in New York City in 1950. When he was a sophomore at MIT, he decided to leave in order to pursue his dream of becoming a poet. In 1970, Sze transferred to the University of California, Berkeley from which he graduated with a BA as a self-directed major in poetry. Now, many years later, he serves as the Nation's pillar of poetry working to spread the appreciation of the art.

During his term as the National Poet Laurete, Sze plans to have a deep focus on translating poetry originally written in other languages. He says,

"As laureate I feel a great responsiblity to promote the ways poetry, especially poetry in translation, can impact our daily lives. We live in such a fast-paced world: poetry can help us slow down, deepen our attention, connect and live more fully."

Sze is the recipient of many awards including the Library of Congress 2024 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, which is historically awarded to an American Poet for the most distinguished book of poetry published during the preceding two years or for lifetime achievement in poetry. His reception of the award was for lifetime achievement in poetry. Additionally, he won a National Book Award in Poetry in 2019 for Sight Lines, was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize in 2015 and has received many honors including the Bollingen Prize, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a Lannan Literary Award, the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award and a Guggenheim fellowship.

Image from Library News Room: The Library of Congress

Most of Sze's professional life has revolved around translation. His work, The Silk Dragon II: Translations of Chinese Poetry, a compilation 50 years of translation, showcases Sze's close relationship with the Chinese poetic tradition. When talking about his early relationship with translation he states,

"At first, I did it just because I thought that translations into English sounded so antiquated or dated, and then I discovered that it was an incredibly deep form of reading. I found myself writing out each Chinese character, stroke by stroke, to personalize the language. Imagining how that poem got created was intensely exciting for me. I learned my craft of writing poetry through translation.”

Aside from translating ancient Chinese texts, Sze is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts, where he has taught for many years and was a critical part of establishing its creative writing program.

In the Library of Congress' announcement, Robert R. Newlen acting Librarian of Congress said, "His work is distinctly American in its focus on the landscapes of the Southwest, where he has lived for many years, as well as in its great formal innovation." His work is clearly drawn from his passion of translation and a close relationship with the natural world having been described as experimental, a surrealist, an eco-poet and ecstatic.