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Photo Credit: Sherrie Y. Young
Although John was inexperienced in working with children,
he proved quite adept at talking with groups of all
ages. He met twice with eleven and twelve-year-olds
in the after-school program. The positive impact of
John's visits became evident when the students read
their own powerful, beautifully constructed poetry during
a reading that took place on the last day.
 Lenox
Hill Neighborhood House in Manhattan was delighted
to have poet John Balaban as the author-in-residence
from May 18 to May 22, 1998.
John, who translates Vietnamese poetry into English,
was a National Book Award Finalist for Poetry in 1975
for After Our War and in 1997 for Locusts
at the Edge of Summer: New & Selected Poems.
 During
his five-day residency he met with senior citizens, English
as-a-Second-Language students, junior high school students,
preschoolers, and neighborhood poets as part of his residency.
Photo Credit: Sherrie Y. Young
In addition to his residency
at Lenox Hill, John also gave a reading in Vietnamese
at the Francis Martin Regional Library in the Bronx.
His reading, a celebration of Asian-American Heritage
Month, was accompanied by a musician playing the dan
tranh. The audience of Vietnamese-Americans was small,
but they were thrilled and appreciated hearing and celebrating
the poetry of their culture.
Photo Credit: Gary Suarez. John's meeting with English-as-a
Second-Language students.
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John
Balaban visits 
