"His work is surreal and surprising, commonplace yet dreamlike. [It] has both shades of darkness and flashes of ironic humor," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.
Simic is the Library's 15th poet laureate, succeeding Donald Hall. Interestingly enough, both currently reside in New Hampshire. Simic will be a featured at the Library of Congress National Book Festival Poetry Pavilion on Sept. 29 and will open the Library's literary season with a reading on Oct. 18.
Author of 18 books of poetry, Simic is also an essayist, translator, editor and professor emeritus of creative writing and literature at the University of New Hampshire, where he has taught for 34 years. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for his book of prose poems "The World Doesn't End" (1989).
Born in Yugoslavia on May 9, 1938, Simic arrived in the United States in 1954. He has been a U.S. citizen for 36 years. More information on Simic and the laureateship background can be found in the official announcement.