Anna Badkhen

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Photo by Tonatiuh Ambrosetti / Fondation Jan Michalski

Anna Badkhen’s new essay collection, To See Beyond, is forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press in April 2026. She is the author of seven other published books, most recently Bright Unbearable Reality, longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award and for the 2023 Jan Michalski Prize for Literature. Badkhen’s awards include the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Barry Lopez Visiting Writer in Ethics and Community Fellowship, and the Joel R. Seldin Award from Psychologists for Social Responsibility for writing about civilians in war zones. A former war correspondent, Badkhen grew up in the Soviet Union and is a US citizen. She is an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania.

  • December 19, 2025 Anna Badkhen
    Photo by Robert / stock.adobe.com In telling stories, writers draw maps of the world. What if we imagined a different map?I always have hewn to borders, physical and metaphysical, where ho…
  • Anna Badkhen
    Photo of Chihuahuan Desert, Contrabando Area ~ Big Bend Ranch State Park by Gary Nored / flickr.com Can we tell stories, the author asks, “in a way that makes more breathing room, that does no…
  • Anna Badkhen
    Releasing the Truth, mixed media on canvas by Florine Démosthène. Courtesy of the artist.What is this sense of dislocation? Do others have it? A wandering writer explores displacement on…