About John

John Ronan’s primary focus is poetry. Taking the Train of Singularity South from Midtown (Backwaters/Univ. of Nebraska, 2018) follows the success of Marrowbone Lane (Backwaters/Univ. of Nebraska, 2010), which was highly recommended by the Boston Authors Club. Poetry has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, Threepenny Review, Notre Dame Review, Woven Tale Press, American Journal of Poetry,  and many other journals.

John is a former National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, Ucross Fellow, and Bread Loaf Scholar. He has served as Poet Laureate of Gloucester, MA, and founded a poetry scholarship at Gloucester High School as well as the annual Poetry without Paper contest run for all Gloucester students by the city’s library.

He is also a playwright and journalist. His one-act, The Early Bird Special, was a finalist in the Tennessee Williams festival and has been staged in New York and in Masssachusetts, notably as a winner in a  Firehouse Center for the Arts competition in Newburyport.

As a journalist, Ronan’s work has appeared in The Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, Boston Globe and other newspapers. He writes regularly for the Gloucester Daily Times  and other publications. See “Salem Sam and the Vaticanettes” at ZNetwork.

John is also a Professor Emeritus at North Shore Community College, where he has taught creative writing and film. John lives in Gloucester with his wife, Sandy, and fond memories of their late canine friend, Cowboy.