Peter Balakian

Peter Balakian

About Peter Balakian

Peter Balakian, born June 13, 1951 in Teaneck, New Jersey, is an American poet, writer and historian of Armenian descent. In 1980 he received a Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University. An important part of his work relates to the Armenian genocide of 1915. Thus in 1997, Balakian published Black Dog of Fate, the story of the reawakening of his Armenian identity following a family investigation and where he describes his adjusted childhood and youth in a typical American suburban settlement in New Jersey. The book was awarded the PEN's Martha Albrand Prize for Memoir. Peter Balakian first became known as an author of many volumes of poetry. Most recently, June-tree: New and Selected Poems 1974-2000 was published. In 2016, he received the Pulitzer Prize for the poetry collection Ozone Journal.
In 2003, Peter Balakian published The Tiger in Flames, a study on the reactions of the international community and in particular of American public opinion to the Armenian genocide. This non-fiction book provides a comprehensive narrative of the Armenian genocide, based primarily on US sources. This book earned him the Raphael Lemkin Prize in 2005.

Browse all poems and texts published on Peter Balakian

Peter Balakian Poems




Syndicate content

Popular Poets of All Time

  • Robert Frost
    Robert Frost
    was an American poet.
  • Maya Angelou
    Maya Angelou
    was an African-American poet.
  • Pablo Neruda
    Pablo Neruda
    Nobel prize chilean poet.