Overview

• Sze will inaugurate his term with a public reading at the Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium on Oct. 9.
• He succeeds Ada Limón and brings a decades-long career as a poet, translator, and teacher with 12 collections and the 2019 National Book Award for Sight Lines.
• Acting Librarian Robert R. Newlen praised Sze’s formally inventive work and announced the appointment on behalf of the institution.
• The laureateship’s public mission is broadly defined, and Sze says he will use translation to help broaden engagement with poetry.
• The announcement comes as the Library navigates leadership uncertainty following President Trump’s firing of Carla Hayden, with Newlen overseeing daily operations.