Recent news featuring Copper Canyon Press poets.
“Building Bridges—and Community—Through Translation: An Introduction to Transient Worlds: On Translating Poetry,” in World Literature Today
“Translation builds bridges and makes community. . . . Translating a poem with the aid of a fluent speaker builds trust and emotional connection; it forms a bridge where insight and understanding go back and forth. And issues of translating poetry from one language into another offer unexpected insights into creating one’s own poetry. Instead of a materialist worldview where you gain at someone else’s expense, translating poetry shows that the more you give, the more everyone has. As the twenty-fifth US Poet Laureate, I send Transient Worlds as my offering out into the world.”—U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze
Stay Dead reviewed in Quarterly West
“. . . ACTING [is] in many ways the discovery and engine for Shapero. . . . In a book this self-aware, over-the-top performance becomes a framework for thinking about how poems can connect us with others by making identity a variable that is produced in the spark of connection between the speaker and the reader. It makes the production of language and selves a shared activity. ACTING, then, becomes a way of defeating alienation by interpreting and entering others’ lives. Doing so, it unmasks the kinds of soul-crushing performances capitalism already demands of us by magnifying it.”—Noah Warren, Quarterly West
You Must Live: New Poetry from Palestine, reviewed in Current Affairs
“That we have these poems at all is a testament to the tenacity of the editors and the courage of the poets. . . . These poets, over and over again, insist on making it possible for those of us ‘living outside of Gaza’ to imagine their grief, the repression and injustice and death they are living with constantly, to be moved by it, to refuse to accept any of this as ‘routine.'”—W.D. Ehrhart, Current Affairs
Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award Finalist: An Authentic Life by Jennifer Chang
An Authentic Life is a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, one of the most respected honors in contemporary American poetry. This prize recognizes a mid-career poet whose work signals an “exceptional literary achievement and a lasting contribution to contemporary poetry.”
This year, five finalists were selected from over 400 submissions. A winner will be announced on March 28, 2026. Congratulations to Jennifer Chang!
Get your copy of An Authentic Life here.
Twenty-Fifth U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze inducted into the Academy of American Arts and Letters
Comprising leading contemporary writers, architects, visual artists, and musical composers, the Academy of American Arts and Letters is an elite honor society dedicated to fostering and sustaining interest in the arts.
About this year’s inductees, Academy President Kwame Anthony Appiah remarked, “They show what it means to look closely at history, at power, at intimacy, at place. Their work enlarges the cultural record, and we are proud to count them among us.”
Congratulations to Arthur Sze on this immense honor! Discover Sze’s forthcoming work and learn more about his Laureateship here.
Open now through April 15, 2026 | In-Person | Fredonia, NY
Visit Fredonia Marion Art Gallery for “Children of Grass: A Portrait of American Poetry.” The exhibit features fifty photographic portraits and one video of prominent American poets by B.A. Van Sise, along with the poems that inspired the images. Among the gallery’s photographs are portraits of Copper Canyon Press authors Ted Kooser, Arthur Sze, and Javier Zamora.
Admission is free and open to the public.
Find additional information and events here!
Natalie Shapero at Reed College
March 19, 2026 | 6:30 pm PT | In-Person | Portland, Oregon
Reed College hosts T.S. Eliot Prize finalist Natalie Shapero for their Visiting Writers Series. This event is free and open to the public!
Michael Bazzett in conversation with Maggie Smith
March 24, 2026 | 7:00 pm CT | In-Person | Minneapolis, MN
Join inaugural Stern Prize winner Michael Bazzett and Maggie Smith for an evening conversation and celebration of Smith’s brand new poetry collection, A Suit or a Suitcase! Copies of Michael Bazzett’s Cloudwatcher will be available for early purchase!
National Book Critics Circle Awards Reading and Ceremony with Yuki Tanaka and Chronicle of Drifting
The National Book Critics Circle Awards Finalists Reading and Awards Ceremonies will take place in New York later this month.
Finalists Reading
March 25, 2026| 6:30 pm ET | In-person and Livestream
Awards Ceremony
March 26, 2o26 | 6:30 pm ET | In-person and Livestream
Register for the reading and awards ceremonies here.
PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony with Arthur Sze and Into the Hush
March 31, 2026| 7:30 pm ET | In-person
The PEN America Literary Awards ceremony will take place in New York. Arthur Sze’s Into the Hush is a finalist for the 2026 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award.
Get tickets for the ceremony here.
WAVEMACHINE with Jennifer Chang
April 11, 2026 | 4:00 pm PT | In-Person
Kingsley Tufts Finalist Jennifer Chang—joined by aracelis girmay and Cecily Parks—will perform at WAVEMACHINE, a poetry and performance series in San Francisco.
Find additional event details here.
Monsters of Poetry with Leila Chatti 
April 11, 2026 | 7:00 pm CT | In-person
Mark your calendars for Leila Chatti’s poetry reading with Monsters of Poetry.
Stay tuned here for additional information about the reading.
New poetry from Diannely Antigua, “Long Distance, Up Close” in The Los Angeles Review
“Sometimes, I’ll go to the mountain. I count when I’m on/the edge, three days of bliss between the plane rides.”—Diannely Antigua
New poetry from Kelli Russell Agodon, “Trying to Sext My Partner, Who Replies ‘I Can’t Get My Camera to Work'” in POETRY magazine
New poetry from Pádraig Ó Tuama, “Our Lady of the Garden” from poets.org
“All this time, I felt like I had to describe/ the things I did, and what was done to me . . .”—Pádraig Ó Tuama
New poetry from Jenny George, “Touching and Being Touched” from poets.org
“The music was turned up too loud for talking/but everybody talked. Someone I barely knew/was drinking wine and had an arm around me.”—Jenny George
New Poetry from Jorie Graham, “Suddenly” in The Yale Review
“as if beside me / the solitary horse / neighs in the / neighbor’s distant /field, twice, the heat . . .”—Jorie Graham