US & World News

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) ― Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Simic of the University of New Hampshire will be the new U.S. poet laureate, the Library of Congress announced Thursday.

Simic, who lives in Strafford, will replace another New Hampshire poet in the post -- Donald Hall of Wilmot, who said Thursday he was delighted by Simic's selection.

The poet laureate program promotes poetry across the nation.

Simic takes up his duties in the fall, opening the library's annual literary series Oct. 17 with a reading of his work. He also will be the featured speaker at the Library of Congress National Book Festival on Sept. 29 in the poetry pavilion on the National Mall.

Simic taught at the University of New Hampshire for 34 years before moving to emeritus status. He won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1990 for his book of prose poems, "The World Doesn't End." He also is an essayist, translator, editor and professor emeritus of creative writing and literature.

Marilyn Hoskin, dean of the college of liberal arts at UNH, praised Simic as an extremely talented poet who remains grounded and active in the campus community.

"He is one of these extraordinarily versatile but unbelievably congenial, collegial people. He's not in any sense remote or a recluse," she said. "On top of that he's quite an extraordinary poet. He's the guy who gets up in the middle of the night to write poetry."

She described his work as "story telling poetry."

"When you read it, you feel like he's talking to you," she said. "Whatever the subject matter -- a cat walking at midnight or a view from Serbo-Croatia -- someone is there telling you something beautifully phrased."

Born in Yugoslavia in 1938, Simic arrived in the United States in 1954. He has been a U.S. citizen for 36 years.

"I am especially touched and honored to be selected because I am an immigrant boy who didn't speak English until I was 15," he said.

In a statement from Washington, Librarian of Congress James Billington praised Simic's "stunning and unusual imagery."

"He handles language with the skill of a master craftsman, yet his poems are easily accessible, often meditative and surprising. He has given us a rich body of highly organized poetry with shades of darkness and flashes of ironic humor," Billington said.

Simic's first collection, "What the Grass Says," was published in 1967. It was noted for its surrealist poems.

Simic is known for short, clear poems. His poem "Stone" often appears in anthologies. It begins: "Go inside a stone / That would be my way. / Let somebody else become a dove / Or gnash with a tiger's tooth. / I am happy to be a stone..."

He will publish a new book of poetry, "That Little Something," in February. His most recent volume is "My Noiseless Entourage," published in 2005.

Simic's awards include the Edgar Allen Poe Award, the PEN Translation Prize and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He elected a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2000 and received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Simic's childhood was disrupted by World War II. He moved to Paris with his mother when he was 15 and joined his father in New York a year later. They then moved to Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago.

Simic graduated from the same high school as Ernest Hemingway. He started writing poetry in high school to attract girls, he said.

He attended the University of Chicago, working nights in an office at the Chicago Sun Times, but was drafted into the Army in 1961. He served two years.

He earned his bachelor's degree from New York University in 1966.

He wrote and translated poetry from 1966-1974. He also worked as an editorial assistant for a magazine.

He married fashion designer Helen Dubin in 1964. The couple has two children.

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