Poet, writer, editor, publisher, professor, scholar, activist, U.S. National Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate Ron Whitehead, who grew up on a farm in Kentucky, is the author of over 30 books and more than 40 albums.
A UNESCO Europe Writer-in-Residence, his work has been translated into 20 languages. Winner of the Kentucky Poetry Society’s World Peace Prize for Poetry (Judge Lisel Mueller), the Kentucky Poetry Prize, the Yeats Club of Oxford’s Prize for Poetry, the City of Louisville presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in The Arts, and many other awards and honors, including being nominated for the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Ron’s poetry has been published around the world in a diverse range of print and online publications from TRIQUARTERLY (Northwestern University/Illinois) to ARTFORUM (Czech Republic) to BLUE BEAT JACKET (Japan) to BEAT SCENE (England) to SOUTHERN REVIEW (Louisiana) to TRIBE magazine (NYC) to AMERICANS & OTHERS (Italy), and thousands of others.
He produced thousands of music and poetry events, festivals, and Insomniacathons across Europe and the USA. Although he recently retired from producing events, at 74, he continues to perform and record with his Storm Generation Band and many others.
His new book, TAPPING MY OWN PHONE, was released, September 2024, by the National & International Beat Poetry Foundation. His new album, THE WAY of THE HEART: OLD AGE SUITE was recently released by sonaBLAST! Records.
He just returned from Newfoundland where he was the first Writer-in-Residence for the historic Woody Point Heritage Theatre’s Sonic Harvest Sessions. A new video, filmed in Newfoundland, was released February 2025.
His new book CROW and OUTLAW was released January 18, 2025 by Keeping the Flame Alive Press. A new Published in Heaven Poster of his “A Poet’s Path” poem was released on the same day. A new music spoken word video of A PRAYER for AMERICA/This Land is Your Land by Ron Whitehead (with Woody Guthrie) & The Storm Generation Band was released by sonaBLAST! Records in February 2025.
He will Feature at PoetFest in April 2025 at historic Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.
He will present The Keynote State of Gonzo Address at GonzoFest New Orleans in May 2025, where he will also perform with legendary composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram plus with the band ZU ZU YA YA.
OUTLAW POET: The Legend of Ron Whitehead, a feature length documentary on Ron’s life and work, is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime Films Documentaries.
Ron Whitehead’s official website is tappingmyownphone.net
