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Image courtesy of Pitt Street Poetry.
Ron Pretty Ron Pretty i(A6444 works by) (a.k.a. Ronald Keith Pretty)
Born: Established: 16 Oct 1940 ; Died: Ceased: 30 Jun 2023
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Poet and teacher Ron Pretty graduated from the University of Sydney with an Honours degree in History in 1967. He then taught students with disabilities at Strathfield before teaching English and History at Casino High School. Pretty had his first taste of teaching creative writing while editing the school magazine. In 1969-1970, he taught at the Strategakis School of English at Serrai in Northern Greece. On returning to Australia, Pretty completed a Master of Arts in Australian Literature at the University of Sydney and was appointed a lecturer at Wollongong Teachers' College and started teaching writing in WEA adult education courses. He taught writing in schools, universities and writing groups in Australia, America, England, and Austria.

In 1987, Pretty joined seven other lecturers, postgraduates and local writers in Wollongong in forming a publishing cooperative to promote book publication by its members. This was the origin of Five Island Press, of which Pretty became Director. Between 1983 and 1998, he was Head of Writing in the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong. Pretty was the editor of Scarp, a literary/arts magazine, from 1984 until its demise in 1999 and was a founding member and Director of the Poetry Australia Foundation. He was also Managing Editor of Blue Dog: Australian Poetry.

(Major source: Gina Mercer, 'What the Dance looks Like: A Conversation With Ron Pretty', LINQ 28.1 (May 2001): 9-16)

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2021 highly commended W. B. Yeats Poetry Prize for Australia for 'Peacocks'.
2011 shortlisted Blake Poetry Prize for 'Being So Caught Up'.
2011 Australia Council Literature Board Grants Residencies $18,000 for a six-month residency at the Whiting Studio, Rome, 3 August 2012- 27 January 2013.

Awards for Works

The Poetry of Money i "He joined the firm as a star, married his honey", 2015 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Montreal International Poetry Prize : 2015 Longlist 2015;
2015 longlisted Montreal International Poetry Prize
Plans i "his laugh sounds like a circular saw as he shits", 2015 single work poetry
— Appears in: FourW New Writing Twenty-Six 2015; (p. 115)
2015 shortlisted The Booranga Prize The Booranga Prize for Poetry
Delenda est Carthago i "I too come from Carthage. I was there", 2011 single work poetry
— Appears in: 2011 Global Poetry Anthology : Montreal International Poetry Prize 2012; (p. 29)
2011 shortlisted Montreal International Poetry Prize
Last amended 7 Aug 2023 07:36:32
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