Peter Balakian

Infobox Writer
name = Peter Balakian


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birthdate = 1951
birthplace = Teaneck, New Jersey
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occupation = Poet and nonfiction writer
nationality = American
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Peter Balakian (born 13 June 1951) is an Armenian-American poet, writer and academic.

Life

Peter Balakian was born in 1951, in Teaneck, New Jersey to an Armenian family. He was raised in Teaneck and Tenafly, New Jersey. [Smith, Dinitia. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E5DD1E3FF93AA2575BC0A961958260 "A Poet Knits Together Memories of Armenian Horrors"] , "The New York Times", August 19, 1997. Accessed November 8, 2007. "Growing up in Tenafly, N.J., during the "strange sweetness of a privileged childhood," the poet Peter Balakian could feel beneath the membrane of suburban life the intimations of his family's ancient and exotic Armenian culture and a dark and terrifying past."] He earned a B.A. from Bucknell University, an M.A. from New York University, and a Ph.D., in American Civilization, from Brown University. He has taught at Colgate University since 1980, where he is currently Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of the Humanities in the Department of English and Director of Creative Writing. He was the first Director of Colgate’s Center for Ethics and World Societies.

Peter currently lives in Hamilton NY. He has a son named James, who also attends Bucknell University, and a daughter named Sophia.

Career

Peter Balakian is the author of five books of poems, including, most recently, "June-tree: New and Selected Poems 1974-2000". His other books are "Father Fisheye" (1979), "Sad Days of Light" (1983), "Reply From Wilderness Island" (1988), "Dyer’s Thistle" (1996), and several fine limited editions. His poems have appeared widely in American magazines and journals such as "The Nation", The "New Republic", "Antaeus", "Partisan Review", "Poetry", "Agni", and "The Kenyon Review"; and in anthologies such as "New Directions in Prose and Poetry", "The Morrow Anthology of Younger American Poets", "Poetry’s 75th Anniversary Issue" (1987), "The Wadsworth Anthology of Poetry" and others.

Balakian’s memoir "Black Dog of Fate" (1997) was winner of the PEN/Albrand Prize for memoir and a "New York Times" Notable Book. "The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response" (2003) received the 2005 Raphael Lemkin Prize and was a "New York Times" Notable Book and "New York Times" and national best seller.

Balakian is also the author of "Theodore Roethke’s Far Fields" (Louisiana State University Press, 1989). His essays on poetry, culture, and art have appeared in many publications including "Ararat", "Art In America", "American Poetry Review", "The Chronicle of Higher Education", "The American Quarterly", "American Book Review", and "Poetry".

Balakian was co-founder and co-editor (with Bruce Smith) of the poetry magazine "Graham House Review", which was published from 1976 to 1996. He is the translator (with Nevart Yaghlian) of "Bloody News From My Friend" by the Armenian poet Siamanto (Wayne State University Press, 1996). Balakian’s prizes and awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, 1999; National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 2004; PEN/Martha Albrand Prize for Memoir, 1998; Raphael Lemkin Prize, 2005 (best book in English on the subject of human rights and genocide); New Jersey Council for the Humanities Book Award, 1998; Daniel Varoujan Prize, New England Poetry Club, 1986; Anahid Literary Prize, Columbia University Armenian Center, 1990. He is also a recipient of the Khorenatsi medal.

Four fine limited editions of Balakian’s poems have been published by The Press of Appletree Alley (Lewisburg, PA). Translations and editions of Balakian’s books appear in Armenian, Bulgarian, Dutch, German, Greek, Russian, and Turkish. Balakian has lectured widely in the United States and abroad and has appeared often on national television and radio.

Works

Poetry
*"Father Fisheye" (1979)
*"Sad Days of Light" (1983)
*"Reply From Wilderness Island" (1988)
*"Dyer’s Thistle" (1996)
*"June-Tree: New and Selected Poems, 1974-2000" (2001) Prose
*"Theodore Roethke’s Far Fields" (1989)
*"Black Dog of Fate, A Memoir" (1997)
*"The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response" (2003) Translation
*"Bloody News From My Friend", by Siamanto, translated by Peter Balakian and Nevart Yaghlian, introduction by Balakian (1996)

Editor
*"Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story", preface by Robert Jay Lifton, introduction by Roger Smith, afterword by Henry Morgenthau III. (2003)
*Limited Editions (all from The Press of Appletree Alley, Lewisburg, PA)
*"Declaring Generations", linoleum engravings by Barnard Taylor ( 1981)
*"Invisible Estate", woodcuts by Rosalyn Richards (1985)
*"The Oriental Rug", linoleum engravings by Barnard Taylor (1986)
*"The Children’s Museum at Yad Vashem", illustrated by Colleen Shannon (1996)

Recordings
*Poetry on Record, 1888-2006: 98 Poets Read their Work (Tennyson, Whitman, Yeats, through Modernism to present. Four-CD set. Balakian reading “The History of Armenia”

References

External links

* [http://www.cortlandreview.com/issue/22/balakian_i.html Interview transcript & audio of Balakian reading his poems: Cortland Review, March 2001.]