Alan Semerdjian

Writer, musician, and educator Alan Semerdjian’s poems and essays have appeared in several notable print and online publications and anthologies over the years including Adbusters, Diagram, and Brooklyn Rail. He released a chapbook of poems called An Improvised Device (Lock n Load Press) in 2005 and his first full-length book In the Architecture of Bone (GenPop Books) in 2009, which Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Balakian called “well worth your reading.” His music has been featured in television and film and charted on CMJ. He has performed over a thousand shows and readings all over North America. Among his distinctions are a New York State English Council Educator of Excellence Award in 2008, numerous Long Island Press Club Awards for his writing at LI Pulse, and a grant in 2017 from the Armenian General Benevolent Union’s Performing Arts Program for a collaboration of poetry and music with Vancouver-based guitarist Aram Bajakian. He earned his MFA at Goddard College in 2002 and currently teaches English at Herricks High School in New Hyde Park, NY. Alan resides in New York City’s East Village.