The Literary Magazine of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers
John Balaban
John Balaban is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose, including four volumes which together have won The Academy of American Poets' Lamont prize, a National Poetry Series Selection, and two nominations for the National Book Award. His Locusts at the Edge of Summer: New and Selected Poems won the 1998 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. Remembering Heaven's Face is his memoir of serving in Vietnam as a conscientious objector to the war. His new book of poetry is Empires (Copper Canyon Press, 2019).
In addition to writing poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, he is a translator of Vietnamese poetry. In 1999, with two Vietnamese friends, he founded the Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation (http://nomfoundation.org). In 2008, he was awarded a medal from the Ministry of Culture of Vietnam for his leadership in the preservation of the ancient text collection at the National Library.