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'''Peter Balakian''', born June 13, 1951, is an American poet, prose writer, and scholar. He is the author of many books including the 2016 Pulitzer prize winning book of poems ''Ozone Journal'',<ref>{{Cite web|last=|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/peter-balakian|title=Peter Balakian|access-date=2021-09-21|website=www.pulitzer.org|language=en}}</ref> the memoir ''
== Early life ==
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David Wojahn in ''Tikkun'' (Spring 2016) wrote that,"few American poets of the boomer generation have explored the interstices of public and personal history as deeply and urgently as has Balakian, and his significance as a poet of social consciousness is complemented by his work in other genres."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wojahn|first=David|date=2016-04-01|title=Fragments Against Our Ruins|url=https://doi.org/10.1215/08879982-3493509|journal=Tikkun|volume=31|issue=2|pages=59–61|doi=10.1215/08879982-3493509|s2cid=184010843 |issn=0887-9982}}</ref>
Balakian's second book of poems ''
In ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', Steven Ratiner wrote, "It is in its restrained but intimate tone, its faithfulness to the small human detail, that the poetry reaches its broadest context. As we witness the destruction of a kitchen or the anguish of one old woman, we somehow come to understand the meaning of holocaust.<nowiki>''</nowiki><ref>{{Cite news|date=1983-08-12|title=Emerging poets with vision and imagination; Sad Days of Light, by Peter Balakian. New York: The Sheep Meadow Press (145 Central Park West, 10023). 80 pp. $13.95 in hard cover, $7.95 in paperback.|work=Christian Science Monitor|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/0812/081262.html|access-date=2021-10-29|issn=0882-7729}}</ref>
His collection
In an interview with the ''New York Times'' after winning the Pulitzer Prize in April, 2016, Balakian said, "poetry in particular has a great capacity to absorb history, and to make historical memory a dynamic contemporary force."<ref>{{Cite news|date=2016-04-18|title=2016 Pulitzer Prize Winners|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/19/business/media/pulitzer-prize-winners-complete-list.html, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/19/business/media/pulitzer-prize-winners-complete-list.html|access-date=2021-10-29|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> To ''The Washington Post'' Balakian said, "I'm interested in pushing the form of poetry, pushing it to have more stakes, more openness to the complexity of contemporary experience."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Charles|first=Ron|date=2016-04-19|title=What you need to know about Peter Balakian, the new Pulitzer Prize-winning poet|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/what-you-need-to-know-about-peter-balakian-the-new-pulitzer-prize-winning-poet/2016/04/19/a9268e5e-05ab-11e6-b283-e79d81c63c1b_story.html|access-date=2021-10-29|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
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Balakian's memoir ''Black Dog of Fate'' (1997) dealt with an Armenian American boy's coming of age in affluent suburban New Jersey of the 1950s and '60s as he comes to uncover the unspoken trauma of the Armenian genocide his grandparents survived. The book received the PEN/Albrand Award for memoir,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2012-11-02|title=1998 Literary Award Winners|url=https://pen.org/1998-literary-award-winners/|access-date=2021-10-29|website=PEN America|language=en}}</ref> was a ''New York Times'' Notable Book,<ref>{{Cite news|date=1997-12-07|title=Notable Books of the Year 1997|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/07/books/notable-books-of-the-year-1997.html|access-date=2021-10-29|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and a book of the year for Publishers Weekly.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir; An American Son Discovers His Armenian Past by Peter Balakian, Author Basic Books $24 (304p) ISBN 978-0-465-00704-2|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-465-00704-2|access-date=2021-10-29|website=Publishers Weekly|language=en}}</ref>
Sybil Steinberg editor at ''Publishers Weekly'' on the ''Charlie Rose Show'' noted that
His 2004 book ''The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response'' debuted at No. 4 on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2003-10-19|title=BEST SELLERS: October 19, 2003|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/19/books/best-sellers-october-19-2003.html|access-date=2021-10-29|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In this narrative history, Balakian brought together two stories: the Ottoman Turkish Empire's eradication of its Armenian Christian minority population of more than two million people during the [[Hamidian massacres]] of the 1890s and in the genocide of 1915, and a little known history of how Americans became international human rights activists for the Armenians during the period of 1895 to 1925 and launched the first international human rights mission in American history.
''Theodore Roethke's Far Fields'' was published in 1988. Balakian's ''Vise and Shadow: Essays on the Lyric Imagination, Poetry, Art, and Culture'' was published in 2015.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/V/bo20145571.html|title=Vise and Shadow|language=en}}</ref> His collaborative translations from the Armenian include: ''Bloody News From My Friend'' by Siamanto (with Nevart Yaghlian); ''Armenian Golgotha, a memoir'', by [[Grigoris Balakian]] (with Aris Sevag) (2009); ''The Ruins of Ani'' by Krikor Balakian with
== Public Intellectual Work ==
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About President Biden's statement of acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, 2021, Balakian wrote in an op-ed in ''The Washington Post'' "No American president until Biden has had the courage to use the word "genocide" for fear of angering Turkey's leaders and damaging relations with a powerful ally, even one with an abominable human rights record."<ref name="Washington Post">{{Cite news|title=Perspective {{!}} To Armenians, Biden's recognition of the genocide means the world|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/04/24/biden-armenian-genocide-turkey/|access-date=2021-10-29|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> His appearances in the media on the issue include: 60 Minutes,<ref>{{Citation|title=60 Minutes : WJZ : February 28, 2010 7:00pm-8:00pm EST|date=2010-03-01|url=http://archive.org/details/WJZ_20100301_000000_60_Minutes|others=WJZ|access-date=2021-10-29}}</ref> "The Struggle for History" with Bob Simon; the Charlie Rose Show;<ref>{{Citation|title=Peter Balakian - Charlie Rose|url=https://charlierose.com/videos/8342|language=en-US|access-date=2021-10-29}}</ref> Fresh Air with Terry Gross;<ref>{{Cite web|title=An American Poet on His Family's Survival of the Armenian Genocide|url=https://freshairarchive.org/segments/american-poet-his-familys-survival-armenian-genocide|access-date=2021-10-29|website=Fresh Air Archive: Interviews with Terry Gross|language=en}}</ref> ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings;<ref>{{Citation|title=ABC News - Armenian Genocide|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WlN7BQrrYg |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/8WlN7BQrrYg |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2021-10-29}}{{cbignore}}</ref> National Public Radio's Weekend Edition<ref>{{Cite news|title=Biden May Make Genocide Declaration On Armenian Remembrance Day|language=en|work=NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/2021/04/24/990430273/biden-may-make-genocide-declaration-on-armenian-remembrance-day|access-date=2021-10-29}}</ref> and All Things Considered,<ref>{{Cite news|title=Friday Marks Centennial Of Armenian Mass Killings During World War I|language=en|work=NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/04/22/401540456/friday-marks-centennial-of-armenian-mass-killings-during-world-war-i|access-date=2021-10-29}}</ref> and in various documentaries including the PBS documentary The Armenian Genocide ( 2006 directed by Andrew Goldberg), and the documentary [[Intent to Destroy|Intent To Destroy]]'','' directed by [[Joe Berlinger]].
Balakian's political and cultural commentary and op-eds have appeared in ''The Washington Post'',<ref name="Washington Post"/> ''The Guardian'',<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-04-21|title=Turkey must end its 100 years of genocide denial {{!}} Peter Balakian|url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/21/turkey-100-years-genocide-denial-armenia|access-date=2021-10-29|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> ''Salon'',<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-04-24|title=Elia Kazan and the Armenian Genocide: Remembering "America America"|url=https://www.salon.com/2015/04/23/elia_kazan_and_the_armenian_genocide_remembering_america_america/|access-date=2021-10-29|website=Salon|language=en}}</ref> ''LA Times'',<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-04-16|title=Op-Ed: On Armenian genocide, go ahead and offend Turkey|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-balakian-genocide-20150416-story.html|access-date=2021-10-29|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> ''Boston Globe'',<ref>{{Cite web|title=Massachusetts and genocide |url=http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/12/04/massachusetts_and_genocide/|access-date=2021-10-29|website=archive.boston.com|language=en}}</ref> and ''The Daily Beast'',<ref>{{Cite news|last=Balakian|first=Peter|date=2016-10-29|title=Why Hillary Clinton Is Like—and Unlike—Jackie Robinson|language=en|work=The Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/29/why-hillary-clinton-is-like-and-unlike-jackie-robinson|access-date=2021-10-29}}</ref> and his essays about art and literature have appeared in ''Art In America'', ''Poetry'',<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-10-29|title=Peter Balakian|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/peter-balakian|access-date=2021-10-29|website=Poetry Foundation|language=en}}</ref> ''New York Times Magazine'',<ref>{{Cite news|last=Balakian|first=Peter|date=2008-12-05|title=Bones|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/magazine/07lives-t.html|access-date=2021-10-29|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> ''Tikkun'',<ref>{{Cite web|title=Peter Balakian|url=https://www.tikkun.org/author/a_balakianp/|access-date=2021-10-29|website=Tikkun|language=en-US}}</ref> ''Literary Hub'',<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-09-17|title=President Lincoln's Republican Party Was the Original Party of Big Government|url=https://lithub.com/president-lincolns-republican-party-was-the-original-party-of-big-government/|access-date=2021-10-29|website=Literary Hub|language=en-US}}</ref> ''The Chronicle of Higher Education,''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/wannsee-place-and-deed/|access-date=2021-10-29|website=www.chronicle.com}}</ref> and many scholarly journals. In addition to his book prizes, Balakian's other awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship,<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation {{!}} Peter Balakian|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/peter-balakian/|access-date=2021-10-29|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
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*''Ziggurat'' (2010) {{ISBN|9780226035642}}, {{OCLC|490081846}}
*''[[Ozone Journal]]'' (2015)
*No Sign (2022)
;Prose
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