A poet's creative process comes to light in this latest book by National Book Award recipient Arthur Sze. Sze has assembled an illuminating selection of seven interviews, three essays, and poems to examine the evolution of his compositions, his decades teaching poetry, and his deep connection to the cultures and landscape of New Mexico.
A son of Chinese immigrants who was born and raised in New York City and on Long Island, Sze first studied science at MIT. His call to write poetry pulled him away from that academic pursuit, but the sciences would continue to influence his writing. In 2024, Sze received the National Book Foundation Science + Literature Award for The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (Copper Canyon Press). Sze spent over two decades as an educator, teaching creative writing and poetry to Indigenous students from across America at Santa Fe's Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). In this compilation, Sze is interviewed by his former IAIA student, award-winning Diné poet, editor, and visual artist Esther Belin.
Sze's fluency in his parents' native tongue, along with study at the University of California at Berkeley, allowed him to delve into Chinese poetry, both as a student and translator of classical and contemporary works. The White Orchard shows his wider connection to Asian American poetry across the United States and how he has drawn inspiration from translating Chinese poetry into English. Arthur Sze is one of our finest poets, and this collection demonstrates how literature can enrich us all.