Ron Pretty

Ron Pretty is an Australian poet, publisher and teacher.

Ron Pretty AM
Born1940
OccupationTeacher, Poet
Known forPoetry

He has taught writing in the University of Wollongong and Melbourne University as well as in schools, colleges and a broad variety of community organisations. For a twenty-year period he ran Five Islands Press publishing some 230 books of poetry[1] and mentored many Australian poets. He edited the magazines Scarp:New Arts and Writing and Blue Dog:Australian Poetry for a number of years.[2]

Ron Pretty was instrumental in establishing the Poetry Australia Foundation.[3] He was awarded the NSW Premier's Award for Poetry and was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to Australian literature in 2002.[3][4]

Bibliography

Collections

  • Pretty, Ron (1988). The habit of balance. Five Islands Press.
  • Bald Hill with Gliders. Five Islands Press 1991
  • Halfway to Eden. Hale & Ironmonger 1996
  • Of the Stone: New and Selected Poems. Five Islands Press 2000
  • Where the Heart Is. Picaro Press 2009
  • Postcards from the Centre. Profile Poetry 2010
  • Grace Notes and other poems. PIcaro Press 2012
  • What the Afternoon Knows. Pitt Street Poetry 2013

As editor

  • Outlook: an anthology of poems for senior students. Longman Cheshire 1992
  • Anthology of the Illawarra. Five Islands Press 1994
  • Cry Out! An anthology of street poetry (with Ann Davis). Five Islands Press 1996
  • The Argument from Desire: the 1999 Newcastle Prize Anthology. Five Islands Press 1999
  • Blue Like Tea: an anthology of poems from the Wollongong workshop. Five Islands Press 2000
  • Wild About the Roof. Wollongong Poetry Workshop 2001
  • Poems for all Occasions. Five Islands Press 2002
  • Two Spaces of Poetry: poems from Australia & West Bengal 2006
  • The Road South: an anthology of contemporary Australian poetry. Kolkata: Bengal Creations 2007

List of poems

Title Year First published Reprinted/collected
What the house knows 2014 Pretty, Ron (Autumn 2014). "What the house knows". Meanjin. 73 (1): 141.

Non-fiction

  • Creating Poetry. Five Islands Press 1987, 2001
  • Nicole: another chance at life. (with Kaye Bowden). Five Islands Press 1993
  • Practical Poetics. Five Islands Press 2003

Reviews

Reviews for Ron Pretty's most recent book What the Afternoon Knows [5] include:

  • John Upton in Cordite Poetry Review 'He’s on top of his craft, shrewdly observant, witty, practical rather than flashy, never tired.' [6]
  • Les Wicks in the Rochford Street Review 'there is a deep humanity in his observations and as you would expect, the deft hand of a master craftsman.' [7]
  • Geoff Page in the Canberra Times 'it’s refreshing to read a collection where the poems are direct and emotionally engaged, while still possessing the linguistic and intellectual subtlety we rightly demand of poetry.' [8]
  1. "five islands press about page".
  2. "Australian Poetry" (PDF). Metabolism, members anthology. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  3. "Ron Pretty's AusLit page".
  4. "Associate Professor Ronald Keith Pretty". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  5. "Google Books". What the Afternoon Knows. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  6. Upton, John. "Cordite Poetry Review". Review Short. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  7. Wicks, Les. "Rochford Street Review". So Honest, So Textured, So Real. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  8. Page, Geoff. "Canberra Times" (PDF). A Pretty view of life and time. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
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