Pacifist veteran of the Vietnam war and one of America’s finest anti-war poets, John Balaban will read from his new collection, Empires. A review of Empires in the Los Angeles Times, Aliki Barnstone notes that Balaban “demonstrates a piercing moral vision of humanity broken by colonialism and war and ethnic violence, yet he also offers possibilities for healing,” and hails the book as “a testament to the power of poetry, of song.” Balaban is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose, and is also a translator of Vietnamese poetry. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 2008, he was awarded a medal from the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture for his work in translation and digital preservation of ancient texts.

Book signing and reception to follow.