Earlier this month Arthur Sze took over from Ada Limón as the 25th US poet laureate, selected by the Library of Congress. Sze’s work often draws inspiration from philosophy, science and nature. He is also an editor and translator of poetry.

Sze said that he intended to focus on promoting translated poetry. "As laureate I feel a great responsibility to promote the ways poetry, especially poetry in translation, can impact our daily lives. We live in such a fast-paced world: poetry helps us slow down, deepen our attention, connect and live more fully."

He has published 12 collections of poetry. He writes often about the American south-west, where he has lived for many years. Acting Librarian of Congress Robert Randolph Newlen described his work as full of “great formal innovation”, adding that “like Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, Sze forges something new from a range of traditions and influences – and the result is a poetry that moves freely throughout time and space.”

When his appointment was announced, Sze said: “As the son of Chinese immigrants, and as a sophomore who decided to leave MIT to pursue a dream of becoming a poet, I never would have guessed that so many decades later I would receive this recognition.”

You can read some poems by Arthur Sze here

PHOTOGRAPH: SHAWN MILLER / LIBRARY OF CONGRESS