Ronna Bloom

Ronna Bloom has three published books of poetry. Fear of the Ride (Carleton University Press, 1996, shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry), Personal Effects (Pedlar Press, 2000, acquired and translated by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind) and Public Works (Pedlar Press, 2004, shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award). Ronna Bloom works as a poetry teacher and psychotherapist. Her poems have been used in anthologies and textbooks and broadcast on CBC radio. She lives in Toronto.

Awards
Shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award, 2005, for Public Works (Pedlar Press, 2004).
Shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry, 1997 for Fear of the Ride (Carleton University Press, 1996).

Selected Publications
Public Works (Pedlar Press, 2004) ISBN 0-9732140-2-3
Personal Effects, Poetry (Pedlar Press, 2000) ISBN 0-9686522-0-4
Fear of the Ride. (Harbinger Poetry Series, Carleton University Press, 1996).

Selected Anthologies
Listening with the Ear of the Heart: Writers at St. Peter's (St. Peter's Press, 2003) ISBN 1-896971-24-5.
Gifts: Poems for Parents (Sumach Press, 2002) ISBN 1-894549-15-5.
Viewpoints 11 (Prentice Hall Senior English, 2001) ISBN  0-13-019868-4.
Meltwater: Fiction and Poetry from the Banff Centre for the Arts. (Banff Centre Press, 1998).
Understatement. (Seraphim Editions, 1996).

Books in Print
Bloom, Ronna

Public Works (Pedlar Press, 2004) ISBN 0-9732140-2-3
Personal Effects, Poetry (Pedlar Press, 2000) ISBN 0-9686522-0-4, $18.95.
Fear of the Ride. (Carleton University Press, 1996) $14.95 ISBN 0-88629-302-2.

Ronna Bloom, (416) 778-8613
ronna.bloom@utoronto.ca


Poet in the School
(Toronto)

phone: (416) 778-8613 

Ronna Bloom is a poet, psychotherapist and photographer who has performed her poetry at festivals including Word on the Street, Ashkenaz and MayWorks as well as in numerous schools and libraries. In addition to offering writing workshops, she has given family tours at the Art Gallery of Ontario using poetry as a vehicle for interpreting contemporary art. She has three published books of poetry. Her most recent collection Public Works (Pedlar Press, 2004) was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award.

Grade Levels: 3 - OAC

Fees: standard

Classroom Approach:
In the "Panic-Free Poetry Workshops". Ronna Bloom hopes to take the anxiety out of poetry, both for teachers and students. Adaptable to the needs of the class, Bloom usually starts the workshop with a reading from her work and then moves on to the creation of poetry by students themselves. Students have the opportunity to ask questions about content, process, form, inspiration, revision, frustration, publication, etc. Through the use of structured exercises students are encouraged to write poems that reflect their own language, experience and concerns. The aim is for students to see poetry as alive, accessible and something they can make themselves.