Words Bridging Worlds: U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze
Saturday, November 7, 2026
1:00 pm, Red Cap Room
Join us as the nation’s 25th Poet Laureate brings his signature project to the Twin Cities!
Renowned for his decades of visionary poetry and his translations of Chinese verse, Arthur Sze is one of America’s most acclaimed poets. Currently on his second term as United States Poet Laureate, he has been emphasizing the importance of poetry in translation; earlier this year he released Transient Worlds: On Translating Poetry (Copper Canyon Press), a unique volume combining aspects of anthology, guide, and literary essay, all based on Sze’s earnest conviction that “great poetry ignites and reignites our shared humanity over time, and the transient worlds of poetry in translation play a vital role in bringing us together.” He now brings his encouraging vision of poetry to this special TCBF keynote event, where Sze will read from his work and appear in conversation with Eric Lorberer, editor and executive director of Rain Taxi. A public book signing will immediately follow the event.
ALSO: An opportunity to take part in a Worlds Bridging Words poetry translation workshop!
Rain Taxi’s Twin Cities Book Festival, in collaboration with the Library of Congress and The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library as the Minnesota Center for the Book, is pleased to host a craft workshop using Arthur Sze’s Transient Worlds as a springboard for poetry translation. Space for this workshop is limited to 25 participants, who will each receive a copy of the book; participants will be chosen by the Library of Congress, and anyone with an interest in poetry is welcome to apply (no prior translation experience required). Click here to apply!
About the Author
Arthur Sze was born in New York City in 1950. A son of Chinese immigrants, he originally studied science at MIT, but left to pursue a life in poetry; in the decades since then he has become recognized as one of America’s finest poets. He is the author of a dozen poetry collections, most recently Into the Hush (2025) and The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (2021); other collections include such award-winning books as Sight Lines (2019), The Ginkgo Light (2009), The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970–1998 (1998), and Archipelago (1995), all published by the venerable Copper Canyon Press. His most recent collection of Chinese poetry in translation is The Silk Dragon II (2024), and selected interviews and essays have been collected in The White Orchard (2025). Sze’s many honors include the Bollingen Prize for American Poetry, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Jackson Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, the National Book Award, the Lannan Literary Award, the National Book Foundation Science + Literature Award, the Asian American Literary Award, and the American Book Award. His work has been translated into fifteen languages, and he has given readings in major cities around the world. Sze’s service to literary, civic, and educational communities is also distinguished: A former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets (2012–2017), a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he is also a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts and was the first poet laureate of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he has lived for over fifty years.