Santa Fe poet Arthur Sze has been named the 25th Poet Laureate of the United States by the Library of Congress. This appointment recognizes Sze’s five-decade career in poetry, during which he has published twelve books and contributed significantly to American letters.
Sze’s most recent work, The White Orchard: Selected Interviews, Essays, and Poems, was published this year by the Museum of New Mexico Press. The book explores his creative process and cultural influences through essays, poems, and conversations with other writers.
“Poetry has a crucial role to play in our lives, society, and the world. It helps us slow down, hear clearly, see deeply, and envision what matters most in our lives," said Sze.
Sze previously served as Santa Fe’s inaugural poet laureate and was the first creative writing professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts. His awards include the National Book Award for Sight Lines, finalist status for the Pulitzer Prize with Compass Rose, and the Yale Bollingen Prize for American Poetry. His poems have been translated into fifteen languages.
Erin Adair-Hodges, director of the Museum of New Mexico Press, commented on Sze’s latest publication: “Vibrant and vital, his collected insights here have much to teach us beyond the writing of poetry.” She added that “As the U.S. Poet Laureate, Arthur Sze will be a thoughtful steward of the American poetic tradition at a moment when poetry’s truths are needed most.”
Sze is also known for works such as Into the Hush (2025), The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (2021)—which received a 2024 National Book Foundation Science + Literature Prize—Sight Lines (2019), Compass Rose (2014), The Ginkgo Light (2009), Quipu (2005), The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970–1998 (1998), Archipelago (1995), The Silk Dragon II: Translations of Chinese Poetry (2024), and as editor of Chinese Writers on Writing (2010). He is professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
The Museum of New Mexico Press—a division within the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs—published Sze’s new collection as part of its ongoing mission to support literature and culture from New Mexico.
For review copies or more information about Arthur Sze or his new book from Museum of New Mexico Press, contact mnmpress@dca.nm.org or visit mnmpress.org.
