An Evening With U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze on Into the Hush

Like wind on a lake, Arthur Sze’s 12th book of poetry, Into the Hush, extends a language that ripples and stills, conjuring a cast of fruit trees and gunshots, butterflies and chemistry, animals and man. Drawing on a craft honed over decades of writing, these poems earn their profound simplicity, moving with imaginative power and emotional force. Sze harnesses a range of innovative forms to respond to the challenges of our nuclear age – endangered cultures and the exigencies of climate change – exploring what it means to write on a planet struggling against the Anthropocene, to “make lines/against a void.” Here, poems shadow sonnets and appear as haibun and ekphrastic, epistle and twin pantoums. Poems borrow the voice of an eraser and the voice of a jaguar. Even the aspen leaves speak. Writing at the height of his powers, Into the Hush is a landmark publication through which Sze enacts a thrilling journey from silence into sound – and from emptiness into the rich panoply of existence.

In support of poetry and poets, Miami Book Fair is offering this Evenings With program FREE to all fairgoers! When securing your tickets for this session, kindly consider making a donation to MBF to support our work and your Miami literary community.

This is a ticketed event that includes free access to this program as well as the weekend Street Fair, where you’ll find literary events, live music, children’s activities, booksellers, local artisans, and gourmet delights! For information on how to access all MBF25 programs, visit MiamiBookFair.com.

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• This Saturday, 1st November, 05:00 pm, The Big Read 2025: The Roots of Freedom: Tracing the Past, Shaping the Future in Miami
• Next Wednesday, 5th November, 12:00 pm, The Big Read 2025: Museum of Contemporary Art Book Club: The House On Mango Street in North Miami
• Next Wednesday, 5th November, 12:00 pm, Big Read Miami Meets MOCA: Field of Dreams + Book Club in North Miami

Also check out other Arts events in Miami, Literary Art events in Miami, Music events in Miami.