Arthur Sze (; ; born December 1, 1950) is an American poet, translator, and professor. Since 1972, he has published ten collections of poetry. Sze's ninth collection ''Compass Rose'' (2014) was a finalist for the 2015

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

. Sze's tenth collection '' Sight Lines'' (2019) won the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry. Sze was the first Poet Laureate of Santa Fe,

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

, where he resides and is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Early life and education

Sze is a second-generation

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

, born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on December 1, 1950. His parents initially immigrated to the United States due to the Japanese occupation of China, but they stayed when the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

continued. He was raised in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

and Garden City on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

. Sze graduated from the

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Scho ...

in 1968. Between 1968 and 1970, Sze attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

. In 1970, he transferred to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

to pursue poetry.

Career

His poems have appeared in ''

The American Poetry Review ''The American Poetry Review'' (''APR'') is an American poetry magazine printed every other month on tabloid-sized newsprint. It was founded in 1972 by Stephen Berg and Stephen Parker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The magazine's editor is Elizabet ...

'', ''

Boston Review ''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...

'', ''Conjunctions'', ''

The Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, US, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ' ...

'', '' Mānoa'', ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phi ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', and the '' Virginia Quarterly Review'', and have been translated into Albanian, Chinese, Dutch, Italian, Romanian, and Turkish. He has authored eight books of poetry, including ''Compass Rose'' (Copper Canyon Press, 2014). This latter volume was a finalist for the 2015

. He has been included in anthologies such as ''Articulations: The Body and Illness in Poetry'' (University of Iowa Press, 1994), ''Premonitions: The Kaya Anthology of New Asian North American Poetry'', (Kaya Production, 1995), ''I Feel a Little Jumpy around You'' (Simon & Schuster, 1996), ''What Book!?: Buddhist Poems from Beats to Hiphop'' (Parallax Press 1998), and ''American Alphabets'' (Oberlin College Press, 2006). He was a Visiting Hurst Professor at

Washington University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, a Doenges Visiting Artist at Mary Baldwin College, and has conducted residencies at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

, and

Naropa University Naropa University is a private university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, it is named for the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda. The university describes itself a ...

. He is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts, is the first poet laureate of Santa Fe and has won three grants from the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry. In 2012, Sze was elected a Chancellor of the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

Reception

The poet Jackson Mac Low has said: "The word 'compassion' is much overused, 'clarity' less so, but Arthur Sze is truly a poet of clarity and compassion." ''Albuquerque Journal'' reviewer John Tritica: commented that Sze "resides somewhere in the intersection of Taoist contemplation, Zen rock gardens and postmodern experimentation." Critic R.W. French notes that Sze's poems "are complex in thought and perception; in language, however, they have the cool clarity of porcelain. The surface is calm, while the depths are resonant. There is about these poems a sense of inevitability, as though they could not possibly be other than what they are. They move precisely through their patterns like a dancer, guided by the discipline that controls and inspires."

Personal life

Sze he lives in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label= Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The name “S ...

with his wife, Carol Moldaw, and their daughter. Sze also has a son from a previous marriage.

Awards

* Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award *

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

, * American Book Award * Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, * Two National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing fellowships * George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation Fellowship *

Western States Book Award Western States Book Award honored notable works of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and translation written and published in the Western United States. The award was given annually from 1984 until 2002. Lifetime-achievement awards were also p ...

for Translation. *

Jackson Poetry Prize Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organizations in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. The organization publishes a bi-monthly magazine called ''Poets & Writers Magazine'', ...

, 2013 (awarded by Poets & Writers) * National Book Award for Poetry, 2019

Bibliography

Poetry

;Collections * ** * ** * * * * * * * * * ;Translations * ;In anthology *

As editor

* ''Chinese Writers on Writing''. Ed. Arthur Sze. (

Trinity University Press Trinity University Press is a university press affiliated with Trinity University, which is located in San Antonio, Texas. Trinity University Press was officially founded in 1967 after the university acquired the Illinois-based Principia Press. T ...

, 2010).

References

External links

Profile at the Poetry FoundationProfile and poems at Poets.org
* ttp://www.uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=13563 ''Lunch Poems: Arthur Sze'', UCTV, 4-28-08(30 mins, audio)
"Add-Verse" a poetry-photo-video project Arthur Sze participated inSze reading at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on 1 April 1997.
Video (30 mins) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sze, Arthur Living people 1950 births 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets 20th-century translators American male poets American writers of Chinese descent Chinese–English translators Lawrenceville School alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Mary Baldwin University faculty Institute of American Indian Arts faculty Washington University in St. Louis faculty American Book Award winners National Book Award winners Poets from New York (state) Poets from New Mexico Writers from Queens, New York Writers from Santa Fe, New Mexico People from Garden City, New York 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Municipal Poets Laureate in the United States