Ron Pretty

Ron Pretty is an Australian poet, publisher and teacher.

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 and mentored many Australian poets. He edited the magazines Scarp:New Arts and Writing and Blue Dog:Australian Poetry for a number of years.

Ron Pretty was instrumental in establishing the Poetry Australia Foundation. 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.

Collections

 * 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
 * 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

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 include:
 * John Upton in Cordite Poetry Review 'He’s on top of his craft, shrewdly observant, witty, practical rather than flashy, never tired.'
 * 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.'
 * 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.' 