Leonardo Paul Alishan (1951–2005) was an Armenian-Iranian writer, scholar, and translator. He was a professor of Persian and Comparative Literature at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

from 1978-1997. His published works include three collections of poetry, a book of short stories, and many scholarly articles. His translations included works by Nima Yushij,

Mehdi Akhavan-Sales Mehdi Akhavān-Sāles, or Akhavān-Sāless ( fa, مهدی اخوان ثالث) (March 1, 1929 in Mashhad, Iran – August 26, 1990 in Tehran, Iran), pen name Mim. Omid ( fa, م. امید, meaning ''M. Hope'') was a prominent Iranian poet. He is ...

, Jalal Al-e Ahmad, and Ahmad Shamlu who dedicated one of his poems to Alishan. He was a member of the

Armenian Catholic Church , native_name_lang = hy , image = St Elie - St Gregory Armenian Catholic Cathedral.jpg , imagewidth = 260px , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory the Illuminat ...

Biography

Leonardo ("Nardo") Alishan was born to Michael Alishan and Annette Nazloomian in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, on March 4, 1951. A descendant of the Armenian writer

Ghevont Alishan __NOTOC__ Ghevont Alishan () (1820-1901; also spelled Ghevond Alishan, or Leonzio Alishan in Italian or Léonce Alichan in French) was an ordained Armenian Catholic priest, historian and a poet. He was awarded by the Legion of Honour of the Frenc ...

(1820–1901), he developed an interest in literature at an early age. He earned a BA in English Language and Literature from Iran National University in 1973 after which, he immigrated to the United States. He then earned a Ph.D. in

Comparative Literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

at Austin in 1978. He moved to Utah and joined the

's Middle Eastern Studies department in the same year. He married Neli Assadourian on July 19, 1974. They had three children, Michael, Ara, and Eileen, and were divorced in 1993. He died in a house fire in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

on January 8, 2005.

Poetry collections

* ''Dancing Barefoot on Broken Glass'', Ashod Press, 1991. * ''Through a Dewdrop'', Open Letter Press, 2000. * ''Dead Man's Shadow: Collected Poems'', Blind Owl Press, 2010.

Short stories

* ''Free Fall: Collected Short Stories'', Mazda Publishers, 2010.

References

* Lucian Stone, "Leonardo Paul Alishan's Shadow: A Biographical Introduction," in ''Dead Man's Shadow: Collected Poems'', Blind Owl Press, 2010, pp. xiii-xlviv. * Rubina Peroomian, "The Restless World of Leonardo Alishan (March 1951-January 2005)," in ''Genocide Studies and Prevention'' 1/3 (2006): 289-303. * Obituary, ''Salt Lake Tribune'', January 13, 2005.

Awards

* Academy of American Poets Award * Christopher Morely Poetry Award * Irving Writing Award * ''

Atlanta Review ''Atlanta Review'' is an international poetry journal based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded by Daniel Veach in 1994 and is published twice a year. Karen Head of the Georgia Institute of Technology became editor in 2016. The jou ...

'' International Merit Award {{DEFAULTSORT:Alishan, Leonardo 1951 births 2005 deaths People from Tehran 20th-century American poets 20th-century Iranian poets Iranian people of Armenian descent University of Utah faculty Iranian emigrants to the United States American people of Armenian descent University of Texas at Austin alumni Shahid Beheshti University alumni Poets from Utah Eastern Catholic poets Iranian Eastern Catholics American Eastern Catholics American Roman Catholic poets