RONNIE MCGRATH
Dip, BA Hons, MA, Cert Ed.
TUTOR – FREEDOM EXPRESSED: MY WRITES
Before returning to Britain at the age of seven, Ronnie McGrath was brought up in Kingston, Jamaica, by his grandmother, Sarah. Residing in the East End of London, he worked as a Graphic Designer, before leaving the industry and becoming a full time musician. In 1989 he became a founder member of the now defunct musical group The London Afro Blok, who toured Europe, performed for the Queen and opened the 1994 Commonwealth Games in British Columbia, Canada. In 1993, he was commended for his writing by ACER, who later published and awarded 1st place for his writing in 1994. A graduate of Manchester University’s MA in Novel Writing, Ronnie’s formidable short story The Day Before That One, Too, is published in IC3, The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain. His other published work include a chapbook, Poems From The Tired Lips Of Newspapers, 2003, reprinted again in 2005 and 2007 by the Tall-Lighthouse Press, and the novel On The Verge of Losing iT, ankhademia press, 2005. Also published by ankhademia press is Ronnie’s first spoken word CD Acoustic Avant-Gardism, Streams of Consciousness Poems for Neo-Surrealists, 2007. Data Trace, a collection of Ronnie’s inimitable poetry will be published in 2009 by Salt.
As an academic and experienced creative writing teacher with a particular interest in issues concerning writing and identity, Ronnie has worked with a large and diverse range of learners in London and throughout the country. As such he has worked for Spread The Word – Literature Development Agency, Dartington College, Thames Valley University, Greenwich University, Goldsmith College, University of London, Wandsworth Prison, Bethlem Hospital, Jubilee Books, CEL (Community Education Lewisham), Greenwich Maritime museum, Gosport College, Lapidus and Museum of London, Docklands. To date he is a Creative Writing Lecturer, specialising in text and image, at the University of the Arts, London College of Communication.
MEDIA
Geoff Schumann, show BBC London Radio
Doton Adebaya, BBC London Radio
BBC 4 Television, West Indian Front Room
Resonance FM, London
CBC Canadian Braodcasting Corporation
Colourful Radio, London
1 Xtra
C@NTACT: r.mcgrath AT lcc.arts.ac.uk / www.ronniemcgrath.com
02/04/2009