It is with sadness that Rochford Street Review learnt of the death of poet, publisher and editor Ron Pretty on 30 June 2023.
Ron was a teacher and publisher who, for many years, put the interests of other poets and writers above his own. Ron was a guide and mentor to many emerging poets as an academic, as editor of SCARP Magazine and and as founder and publisher of Five Islands Press. In my own case Ron encouraged my critical writing by encouraging me to review and write about poetry for SCARP and then inviting me down to talk to his creative writing class at Wollongong Uni after the publication of my first book.
As a tribute to Ron we would like to republish the social media post made by his current publisher, Pitt Street Poetry, announcing his passing:
It with deep sadness that we share the news that Australian poet Ron Pretty passed away peacefully on Friday 30th June. Ron has been a towering figure in Australian poetry for more than fifty years.
.As founder and publisher of Five Islands Press he published over 230 books by Australian poets, an achievement commemorated by the annual Ron Pretty Prize. Over the years, Ron has been a role model, friend and mentor for many of Australia’s finest poets. His textbook *Creating Poetry* is an essential handbook, now in its 3rd edition and still widely used in creative writing courses across the country..Here at Pitt Street Poetry we know him best as a practising poet, producing some of his finest work in a late flowering over the last decade. We published two new collections, What the Afternoon Knows in 2013 and The Left Hand Mirror in 2017, followed by 101 Poems in 2022, a timely survey collection of ‘greatest hits’, launched last August by fellow poet Peter Frankis at the South Coast Writers Centre – which Ron helped to found so many years ago..Sitting here bleeding ink again tonight,
I know this is another letter I will not send.
Sleep well, old friend: I’ll never find the words,
But my love, my care is with you always.– Ron Pretty. ‘Letter, unsent’
Ron Pretty in Rochford Street Review:
- The Celebration of a Life Richly Lived: Ron Pretty Reviews Many, and One by Lyn Hatherly
- Deeper Meanings Under an Accessible Surface: Ron Pretty Launches Cleanskin Poems by Laureen Williams
- In Memoriam: Ron Pretty remembers Ken Taylor
- A Combination of Accident, Pleasure & Deep Thought: Ron Pretty Launches Kevin Brophy’s Walking: New & Selected Poems
- So Honest, So Textured, So Real: Les Wicks Launches What the Afternoon Knows by Ron Pretty
- 3CR Radical Radio. Friends Read Ron Pretty — Extended Podcast of On-Air Show. Kevin Brophy and Alex Skovron talk about and read the poetry of Ron Pretty from 101 Poems published by Pitt Street Poetry(link is external). Peter Frankis reads Ron Pretty’s reflections on his life in poetry. This extended podcast of the on-air show provides extra readings of Ron Pretty’s poems from 101 Poems. Produced and presented by Tina Giannoukos.
Rochford Street Review 