Career and Writing
John J.
Ronan's latest book of poetry, Marrowbone
Lane, which appeared in January 2009, was published by the renowned
Omaha-based The Backwaters Press;
in 2010 it was named a "Highly
Recommended" book by the Boston
Authors Club. It is available at Barnes
and Noble and Amazon.
Poetry has appeared in scores of national magazines and reviews, including New England Review, Three Penny Review, Southern Poetry Review, The Hollins Critic,
and Notre Dame Review. Books include The Catching Self and The Curable Corpse,
published by Folly Cove in 1996 and 1999 respectively, and John J. Ronan: Greatest Hits
1975-2000, published by Pudding House Publications (now Kattywompus
Press) in 2001. Work was also included in an anthology of prize-winning poetry, Sad Little Breathings
and Other Acts of Ventriloquism, edited by Heather McHugh and published in hardcopy and
electronically by PublishingOnline in 2001.
After he was named a National Endowment for
the Arts Fellow in Literature, Ronan used the stipend in part to promote
local poets and poetry and to expand his cable access television program
on poetry. He is also a former Ucross Fellow
and Bread Loaf Scholar. In June of 2008 he was named to a two year
term as Poet
Laureate of Gloucester, MA, and established a poetry scholarship
at Gloucester High School.
As a playwright, Ronan premiered The Yeats Game in 2008 at Boston
Playwrights' Theater.
[The Yeats Game Review] Under
the direction of Kathy Richter, the comedy had its New York premiere February 29, 2012
at The Producer's Club, 358 W. 44th St. [TheYeatsGame.org.]
Ronan's new comedy, Eden, Please, which
had an initial reading at Blackburn Performing Arts in 2008, goes into production
in 2013.
As a journalist, Ronan has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, Dallas Morning News, The Chicago Tribune and many
other newspapers. He is a former columnist for the Essex County Papers and a former feature writer for The Boston Phoenix.
John is president of American Storyboard, Inc., a non-profit
(501c3) charitable multi-media production company.. In 2002 American Storyboard premiered a
feature on the National Historic Landmark schooner Adventure: Gloucester's Adventure: An American Story. The production won Telly and Aurora Gold
awards for documentary excellence, and was featured on PBS outlets. A new effort, Women in American Horse Racing, began in 2005 and
premiered in the spring of 2007. It was also been featured on PBS
stations, notably state-wide in Kentucky.
John Ronan is also the producer and host of "The Writer's Block with John Ronan," a television program featuring
poets and other artists. The series won a first prize NECTA winner in 2005,
and is broadcast on Cape Ann TV, Channel 12, in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
In 2000, John published a first book of humor, an E-book titled: Damned If I Dotage! The Boomer Faces Fifty.
John Ronan is also Professor Emeritus at North Shore Community College, Danvers, MA, where he teaches film. |