Dr. Peter Balakian is the author of this memoir and a celebrated writer, poet, and professor. He has won many literary awards, perhaps most notably his 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Balakian grew up in an Armenian-American family in the northern New Jersey suburbs outside of New York City. His suburban American upbringing features prominently in Black Dog of Fate, which also chronicles Balakian’s journey into connecting more acutely with his Armenian roots, particularly alongside close relatives that were first- and second-generation survivors of the Armenian Genocide.

In his career, Peter Balakian has written extensively in multiple venues about the Armenian past and modern politics pertaining to the denial of the Armenian Genocide. His work is internationally renowned and much of it is translated into Armenian, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern and European languages. Balakian is the Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor in Humanities at Colgate University, where he teaches English, Creative Writing, and Peace and Conflict Studies courses. Several major institutions have supported Balakian’s work, including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Literary outlets and filmmakers outside of academia have featured Balakian’s work and expertise in popular studies of the Armenian Genocide and poetry.