At a time when its leadership is in question and its mission challenged, the Library of Congress has named a new U.S. poet laureate, the much-honored author and translator Arthur Sze.
The library announced Monday that the 74-year-old Sze had been appointed to a one-year term, starting this fall. The author of 12 poetry collections and recipient last year of a lifetime achievement award from the library, he succeeds , who had served for three years. Previous laureates also include , and Billy Collins.
Speaking during a recent Zoom interview with The Associated Press, Sze acknowledged some misgivings when Rob Casper, who heads the library鈥檚 poetry and literature center, called him in June about becoming the next laureate. He wondered about the level of responsibilities and worried about the upheaval since fired Librarian of Congress in May. After thinking about it overnight, he called Casper back and happily accepted.
鈥淚 think it was the opportunity to give something back to poetry, to something that I鈥檝e spent my life doing,鈥 he explained, speaking from his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 鈥淪o many people have helped me along the way. Poetry has just helped me grow so much, in every way.鈥
Sze鈥檚 new job begins during a tumultuous year for the library, a 200-year-old, nonpartisan institution that holds a massive archive of books published in the United States. Trump after conservative activists accused her of imposing a 鈥渨oke鈥 agenda, criticism that Trump has expressed often as he seeks sweeping changes at , the and other cultural institutions.
Hayden鈥檚 ouster was sharply criticized by congressional Democrats, leaders in the library and scholarly community and such former laureates as Lim贸n and Harjo. It also led to a debate over who has the authority to decide on an interim replacement.
Although the White House announced that it had named Deputy Attorney General as the acting librarian, daily operations are being run by a longtime official at the library, Robert Randolph Newlen. Events such as the annual National Book Festival have continued without interruption or revision.
Laureates are forbidden to take political positions, although the tradition was breached in 2003 when Collins publicly stated his objections to President George W. Bush鈥檚 push for war against Iraq.
Newlen is identified in Monday鈥檚 announcement as acting librarian, a position he was in line for according to the institution’s guidelines. He praised Sze, whose influences range from ancient Chinese poets to Wallace Stevens, for his 鈥渄istinctly American鈥 portraits of the Southwest landscapes and for his 鈥済reat formal innovation.鈥
鈥淟ike Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, Sze forges something new from a range of traditions and influences 鈥 and the result is a poetry that moves freely throughout time and space,鈥 his statement reads in part.
Sze鈥檚 official title is poet laureate consultant in poetry, a 1985 renaming of a position established in 1937 as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress. The mission is loosely defined as a kind of literary ambassador, to 鈥渞aise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.鈥 Initiatives have included Robert Pinsky鈥檚 鈥淔avorite Poem Project,鈥 for which the public would share thoughts on works of their choosing, and Lim贸n鈥檚 鈥淵ou Are Here,鈥 which included poetry installations at national parks.
Sze wants to focus on a passion going back more than a half-century to his undergraduate years at the University of California, Berkeley 鈥 translation. He remembers reading some English-language editions of Chinese poetry, finding the work 鈥渁ntiquated and dated鈥 and deciding to translate some of it himself, writing out the Chinese characters and engaging with them 鈥渙n a much deeper level鈥 than he had expected. Besides his own poetry, he has published 鈥淭he Silk Dragon: Translations from the Chinese.鈥
鈥淚 personally learned my own craft of writing poetry through translating poetry,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 often think that people think of poetry as intimidating, or difficult, which isn鈥檛 necessarily true. And I think one way to deepen the appreciation of poetry is to approach it through translation.鈥
Sze is a New York City native and son of Chinese immigrants who in such collections as 鈥淪ight Lines鈥 and 鈥淐ompass Rose鈥 explores themes of cultural and environmental diversity and what he calls 鈥渃oexisting.鈥 In a given poem, he might shift from rocks above a pond to people begging in a subway, from a firing squad in China to Thomas Jefferson鈥檚 plantation in Virginia. His many prizes include the National Book Award for 鈥淪ight Lines鈥 and such lifetime achievement honors as the Jackson Poetry Prize and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
He loves poetry from around the world but feels at home writing in English, if only for the 鈥渞ichness of the vocabulary鈥 and the wonders of its origins.
鈥淚 was just looking at the word 鈥榢etchup,鈥 which started from southern China, went to Malaysia, was taken to England, where it became a tomato-based sauce, and then, of course, to America,鈥 he says. 鈥淎nd I was just thinking days ago, that鈥檚 a word we use every day without recognizing its ancestry, how it鈥檚 crossed borders, how it鈥檚 entered into the English language and enriched it.鈥
