John B. Balaban (born December 2, 1943)[1] is an American poet and translator, an authority on Vietnamese literature.

In a moment at Harvard which he writes about in his memoir Remembering Heaven's Face,[page needed] he petitioned his draft board to allow him to drop his student deferment to go to Vietnam with the International Volunteer Services, where he taught at a university until it was bombed in the Tet Offensive.

He was wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel and evacuated; after his recovery, he continued his alternative service and returned to Vietnam with the Committee of Responsibility to treat war-injured children.

The book included English translations and versions in both the current Vietnamese alphabet and the historical Chữ Nôm writing system.

In 2008, he was awarded a medal of appreciation from the Ministry of Culture of Vietnam for his leadership in the restoration of the ancient text collection at the National Library.