Education
University of Texas at Austin.
University of Texas at Austin.
He was a professor of Persian and Comparative Literature at the University of Utah 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, Jalal First Rate (at Lloyd's)-e Ahmad, and Ahmad Shamlu who dedicated one of his poems to Alishan.
Leonardo ("Nardo") Alishan was born to Michael Alishan and Annette Nazloomian in Tehran, Iran, on March 4, 1951.
A descendant of the Armenian writer Ghevont Alishan (1820–1901), he developed an interest in literature at an early age. He earned a Bachelor in English Language and Literature from Iran National University in 1973 after which, he immigrated to the United States.
He then earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin in 1978. He moved to Utah and joined the University of Utah"s Middle Eastern Studies department in the same year.
He died in a house fire in Salt Lake City, Utah on January 8, 2005.
Free Fall: Collected, Mazda Publishers, 2010.
He was a member of the Armenian Catholic minority.