U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze on Oʻahu for “Words Bridging Worlds” Tour
This September, 25th U.S. Poet Laureate—and former Merwin Conservancy resident—Arthur Sze will present two free programs on Oʻahu as part of his signature project, “Words Bridging Worlds.” Hawaiʻi will be the first stop on a four-city national tour encouraging Americans to engage with translations of poetry in other languages, including our own ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.
Friday, September 18, 6 PM at Mission Memorial Auditorium — Transient Worlds: A Conversation with U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze & Puakea Nogelmeier
Arthur Sze will launch the “Words Bridging Worlds” tour in conjunction with The Merwin Conservancy and the Honolulu Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts. He will speak about his new book “Transient Worlds: On Translating Poetry” (Copper Canyon Press, 2026) with Puakea Nogelmeier, co-founder of Awaiaulu, an organization dedicated to fortifying the continuity of Hawaiian language and knowledge. A linguist and writer, Nogelmeier is a professor emeritus of the University of Hawaiʻi, a Kumu Hula, and a Haku Mele. Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate Lee A. Tonouchi, known as Da Pidgin Guerrilla, will introduce the event, drawing a connection between the state and national poet laureateships. In alignment with Arthur Sze’s project, Tonouchi’s own voice highlights the richness of local languages as well as the communities and cultures that surround them.
Saturday, September 19, at 10:30 AM at Hawaiʻi Center for the Book — Translation Workshop & Book Signing
The following day, a translation workshop and book signing will take place, organized in partnership with Hawaiʻi Center for the Book, allowing participants to practice their own translations. This program will take place at the Hawaiʻi State Library.
These programs are free and open to the public with pre-registration required separately for each. Space is limited and early registration is encouraged.
About Arthur Sze
Arthur Sze was born in New York City in 1950. He is the author of 12 poetry collections, including “Into the Hush” (2025) and “The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems” (2021) which received a 2024 Science + Literature Award from the National Book Foundation. His other collections include “Sight Lines” (2019), which won the National Book Award for Poetry; “Compass Rose” (2014), a Pulitzer Prize finalist; “The Ginkgo Light” (2009), selected for the PEN Southwest Book Award and the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Book Award; “The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970–1998” (1998), selected for the Balcones Poetry Prize and the Asian American Literary Award; and “Archipelago” (1995), selected for an American Book Award. Sze has also published an expanded collection of Chinese poetry translations, “The Silk Dragon II” (2024).
Sze’s many honors include the Bollingen Prize for American Poetry from Yale
University, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation, a Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, a Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers, a Lannan Literary Award and a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Howard Foundation. A former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets (2012–2017) and newly elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts and was the first poet laureate of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives.
About Puakea Nogelmeier & Awaiaulu
Puakea Nogelmeier is a professor emeritus of the University of Hawaiʻi, a Kumu Hula, and a Haku Mele. After decades of study in Hawaiian language, culture, and history, he co-founded Awaiaulu in 2003 to foster a new generation of resource people and to fortify the continuity of Hawaiian knowledge. Puakea has been the Executive Director of Awaiaulu since its inception.
Awaiaulu is dedicated to developing resources that can bridge Hawaiian knowledge from the long-obscured historical archive into the present, for now and the future. Historical resources are made accessible so as to build the knowledge base of both Hawaiian and English-speaking audiences, and young scholars are trained to understand and interpret those resources for modern audiences today and tomorrow.
Partners
This program is presented in collaboration with several national and local nonprofits and organizations. In addition to the Library of Congress, we extend our gratitude to the following local organizations for their vital work and partnership: The Honolulu Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts, the Hawaiʻi Center for the Book, Awaiaulu, The Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities, and Hawaiʻi State Public Library System. Additional support for this program is provided by Halekulani and the Laila Twigg-Smith Art Fund.
Additional Information & Press
For more information about this event and the other partners supporting this program, please see the press releases linked below.
For press inquiries contact Nina Peláez, Associate Director, at npelaez@merwinconservancy.org
