NEW YORK – Urban poet Philip Levine has been named the 18th US poet laureate by the Library of Congress, which praised his writing for plain-spoken lyricism about working-class Americans in Detroit.
Levine (83), who was born and grew up in Detroit but now lives in California, where he taught English and writing at California State University, will take up his one-year term this autumn. He succeeds WS Merwin. – (Reuters)