Alan Semerdjian is an Armenian-American writer, a musician, and an educator. Recent recognitions include two Pushcart Prize nominations; a Frontier New Poets Award; poems in Poetry International, The Brooklyn Rail, Fence, and Hanging Loose (forthcoming); and a tweet from Kim Kardashian that made his 2020 spoken word album The Serpent and The Crane (with guitarist/composer Aram Bajakian) viral for a day. Alan’s poem “The Writing About It Again” was part of a short, animated film (An Armenian Triptych: Retracing Our Steps, made in collaboration with Bajakian and international visual artist Kevork Mourad) that won recognition in several film festivals. Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Balakian has called his first full-length poetry collection, In the Architecture of Bone (GenPop Books, 2009), “well worth your reading.”
Alan has been teaching English in public schools for the past twenty five years winning awards for his commitment to education and innovative approach to teaching while recording, releasing, and touring in support of several critically-acclaimed collections of music across a range of genres including alternative rock, Americana, singer/songwriter, free jazz/experimental, and spoken word.
He is on the advisory board for the International Armenian Literary Alliance, through which he founded and directs the Young Armenian Poets Awards. He lives in New Hyde Park, NY with partner and their son.