Alexander J. Motyl is a painter, writer, and professor. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2008 and 2013, he is the author of eleven novels and a collection of poetry. His artwork has been shown in solo and group shows in New York, Philadelphia, Westport, and Toronto and is part of the permanent collection of the Ukrainian Museum in New York and the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Winnipeg. He has done performances of his fiction at the Cornelia Street Café and the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. 

Motyl earned his PhD from Columbia University where he has lectured. He has also taught at Lehigh University, the Kyiv-Mohyla University, and Harvard University. He currently teaches political science at Rutgers University-Newark and the Ukrainian Free University in Munich. He frequently contributes opinion columns in such publications as Foreign Policy, 19FortyFive, and the Kyiv Post.

He is the author of eight academic books and numerous articles. He is the 2019 Laureate of the Omelian and Tatiana Antonovych Foundation. According to Academic Influence, Motyl was ranked sixth among the “Top Ten Most Influential Political Scientists Today.”