December 15, 2025 U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze Announces the Publication of ‘Transient Worlds,’ His Personal Guide to Poetry in Translation

Arthur Sze, the nation’s 25th U.S. Poet Laureate, will publish a new book as a focus of his laureateship: “Transient Worlds,” his personal guide to global poetry in translation. Published by Copper Canyon Press in association with the Library of Congress on April 14, 2026, “Transient Worlds” will take readers through 1,500 years of poetry from around the world and will feature translations into English from 13 languages, including Arabic, Braj Bhasha, Greek, Japanese, Navajo, Spanish and Tzeltal.

“Translation, indeed, is everywhere; and English, a composite and growing language, has been enriched and strengthened over time by accruals from languages across the world,” Sze said of his focus on literary translation as the theme for his collection. “Translation makes the ancient contemporary, the foreign accessible, and the human experience universal.”

Organized into 15 sections or “zones,” each with its own poem or series, “Transient Worlds” will showcase translations from established and first-time translators alike, with Sze walking readers through the varied linguistic and artistic decisions each translator makes. Guided by Sze’s generous commentary and notes, readers can appreciate and connect with poems in their original languages – even poems written in languages they may be unfamiliar with.

“Transient Worlds” will also give readers the tools they need to make their own translations and invite them to write poems inspired by the creative act of translation. With both the monolingual and multilingual reader in mind, it will offer materials and strategies for readers to respond to poems written from across continents and through centuries. The book concludes with an appendix designed for instructors who want to incorporate translation into their curriculums, including exercises Sze developed over decades of teaching at the Institute of American Indian Arts. 

Ultimately, Sze hopes that “Transient Worlds” will not only deepen our appreciation of language but also heighten our regard for each other’s shared humanity.

“Translation, after all, builds bridges and makes connections,” Sze said. “The more we give, the more everyone has, and poetry in translation plays a vital role in bringing us together.”

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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