Ron Tanner
Ron Tanner is writer of fiction and nonfiction and Professor Emeritus of Writing at Loyola University Maryland.
Life
Tanner grew up in North Carolina but also lived in New Jersey and the Marshall Islands. In his twenties he was a professional musician, playing drums in California. He earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1986, where he was recruited to participate in the influential “20 Under 30” anthology, which included Ann Patchett, Lorrie Moore, and David Leavitt. Tanner won a post-graduate James Michener fellowship from the Copernicus Society, then went on to earn a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1989, where he was one of four University Fellows.Tanner joined the writing faculty of Loyola University-Maryland in 1991 and served as writing department chair for four terms. From 2005-10, Tanner served as a board member and a two-term president of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs. Currently, he is Professor Emeritus of Writing at Loyola University-Maryland and lives on an historic farm, where he directs Good Contrivance Farm Writers Retreat, a 501 C-3 nonprofit.
Writing
Tanner’s books are the short stories collections Far West and A Bed of Nails ; the novel Missile Paradise ; the memoir From Animal House to Our House: A Love Story ; a novel, Kiss Me, Stranger ; and a chapbook, Wheels. His stories and essays have appeared in The Iowa Review, The Massachusetts Review, Literary Review, Story Quarterly, West Branch, and many others. Tanner has served as contributing editor to Defunct magazine, West Branch, and the Pushcart Press.Missile Paradise, a novel set in the Marshall Islands, was named a "notable" novel of 2017 by the American Library Association. A starred Kirkus review stated,"The themes here are major—global warming, imperialism, America’s role in the world. But Tanner displays a light touch, favoring snappy dialogue over didacticism. The result is winning." In 2020, Tanner won the Elixir Press book competition for an unpublished manuscript of fiction, Far West, which was published in 2022.