Peter Balakian will discuss how he has worked through filaments of Armenian history to create an inventive body of literature. He will explore how his work has moved across generations in his writing both poetry and memoir about the Armenian Genocide.
Peter Balakian will discuss the book of poems Bloody News from My Friend by Siamanto (1878-1915). Dr. Diran Balakian, Peter Balakian’s grandfather, at the time of the 1909 Adana massacres was working as a physician tending to the wounded and was also an eyewitness to the atrocities.
In this new poetry collection, Peter Balakian wrestles with national and global cultural and political realities, including challenges for the human species amid planetary transmutation and the impact of mass violence on the self and culture.