U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze announces ***Transient Worlds*, a personal guide to global poetry in translation**

On April 14, 2026 U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze will launch his newest book and Laureate project Transient Worlds, a personal guide to global poetry in translation. Published by Copper Canyon Press in association with the Library of Congress, Transient Worlds will span 1,500 years of poetry from around the world and will showcase translations from thirteen languages, including Arabic, Braj Bhasha, Greek, Japanese, Navajo, Spanish, and Tzeltal.

“Translation, indeed, is everywhere; and English, a composite and growing language, has been enriched and strengthened over time by accruals from languages across the world,” Sze said about selecting literary translation as the theme for his collection. “Translation makes the ancient contemporary, the foreign accessible, and the human experience universal.”

Organized into fifteen sections or “zones,” each with its own poem or series, Transient Worlds will feature translations from established and first-time translators alike, with Sze walking readers through the varied linguistic and artistic decisions each translator makes. Guided by Sze’s generous commentary and notes, readers can appreciate and connect with poems in their original languages—even those from languages of little familiarity.

Transient Worlds will also invite readers to write poems inspired by the creative act of translation. With both the monolingual and the multilingual reader in mind, Sze will provide numerous tools and strategies to ignite readers’ poetic creativity and write poems that dialogue with poets from across continents and through centuries. The book concludes with an appendix designed for instructors who wish to incorporate translation into their curriculums, including exercises Sze developed over his two decades of teaching at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Ultimately, Sze hopes that Transient Worlds will not only deepen our appreciation of language but also heighten our regard for each other’s shared humanity. “Translation, after all, builds bridges and makes connections,” Sze said. “The more we give, the more everyone has, and poetry in translation plays a vital role in bringing us together.”

To learn more about Transient Worlds and preorder your copy, we invite you to visit the collection’s official book page. For questions about Sze’s latest collection and Laureateship, please contact Communications & Publicity Assistant Elizabeth Brueggemann at communications@coppercanyonpress.org or Brett Zongker, Chief of Media Relations at the Library of Congress, at bzongker@loc.gov.