For his first novel, Bloodvine, Aris Janigian was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a "strong and welcome new voice," and in subsequent novels he has plumbed the American experience, from the struggle of 1920s immigrants to the fields of California to the neuroses and decadence of contemporary culture. His 2012 novel This Angelic Land, set during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, was called "today's necessary book" by critic D. J. Waldie, and Janigian's Waiting for Lipchitz at Chateau Marmont, about a screenwriter who goes from riches to rags, spent seventeen weeks on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. Janigian holds a PhD in psychology from the Claremont Graduate School and was formerly Senior Professor of Humanities at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and a contributing writer to West, the Los Angeles Times Sunday magazine. He was a finalist for Stanford University's William Saroyan Fiction Prize and the recipient of the Anahid Literary Award from Columbia University. In addition to his five novels, Janigian is co-author, with April Greiman, of Something from Nothing. He lives in Fresno, California, the city of his birth.
