Poet Laureate

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has announced the appointment of Charles Simic to be the Library’s 15th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. Yugoslavian born Simic has written 18 books of poetry and is also a translator, essayist and Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing at the University of New Hampshire. He has also won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. For more information check out the Library of Congress: http://loc.gov/poetry

The Santa Fe Public Library has a good selection of his works, so check him out at the branch of your choice.

And locally, Santa Fe’s Poet Laureate, Arthur Sze, will be doing a reading with several local poets inspired by wondrous places in the world. Joining Sze will be John Brandi, Dana Levin, Alvaro Cardona-Hine, Carol Moldaw and Allison Hedge Coke on Sunday, September 23, 2007, from 2 to 3:30 p.m., in the courtyard at the Palace of the Governors.

This event is free to New Mexico residents and with paid museum admission. This event is sponsored by the Palace Press and the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission. The Poet Laureate Program is funded by First National Bank of Santa Fe and the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry.

Arthur Sze is the first Poet Laureate of Santa Fe and is the author of eight books of poetry, including Quipu (Copper Canyon, 2005), The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970-1998 (Copper Canyon, 1998), and The Silk Dragon: Translations from the Chinese (Copper Canyon, 2001). He is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

By KS at LF and PCH at Main