Arthur Sze

Arthur Sze
Sze in 2024
Born
Occupation
  • Poet
  • translator
  • writer
  • professor
LanguageEnglish, Chinese
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology
University of California, Berkeley (BA)
GenrePoetry
Years active1972–present
Notable worksCompass Rose (2014)
Sight Lines (2019)
Notable awardsNational Book Award for Poetry (2019)
SpouseRamona Sakiestewa (m. 1978–?; div.)
Carol Moldaw
Children2
United States Poet Laureate
In office
October 9, 2025 – present
Preceded byAda Limón

Arthur Sze (English: /ˈz/; Chinese: 施家彰; pinyin: Shī Jiāzhāng; born 1950) is an American poet, translator, editor, and professor. He is the 25th United States poet laureate consultant in poetry for 2025-2026. Since 1972, he has published twelve collections of poetry. Sze's books include Into the Hush, a finalist for the 2026 PEN / Jean Stein Award (Copper Canyon, 2025) and The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (Copper Canyon, 2021), which received a 2024 National Book Foundation Science and Literature Award. His tenth collection, Sight Lines, won the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry, and his ninth collection, Compass Rose (2014), was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Other previous books include The Ginkgo Light (Copper Canyon, 2009), selected for the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Book Award in Poetry and a PEN Southwest Book Award; Quipu (Copper Canyon, 2005); The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970-1998 (Copper Canyon, 1998), selected for the Balcones Poetry Prize and an Asian American Literary Award; and Archipelago (Copper Canyon, 1995), selected for an American Book Award.

Sze was the first poet laureate of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he resides and is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts.