New U.S. poet laureate 'overwhelmed' by honor

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Simic, who learned English as a teenage immigrant, will be the new U.S. poet laureate, the Library of Congress announced Thursday in Concord, N.H.

Simic, who lives in Strafford, will replace another New Hampshire poet, Donald Hall of Wilmot, the poet laureate program, which promotes poetry across the nation.

"I'm overwhelmed," he said.

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."