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Two Up Down Under
246 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 23, 2017
2 people want to read
About the author
Ron Smith
183 books19 followers
Librarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ron Smith is the author of Running Again in Hollywood Cemetery, runner-up for the National Poetry Series Open Competition and the Samuel French Morse Prize (Margaret Atwood and Donald Hall, judges) and published by University Presses of Florida. His Moon Road: Poems 1986-2005 has just been issued by Louisiana State University Press, and has been praised by Pulitzer-winner Claudia Emerson and Pulitzer-finalist David Wojahn, as well as the Italian scholar and translator Massimo Bacigalupo and the world-famous journalist and novelist Tom Wolfe.
Ron Smith's poems have appeared in many periodicals, including The Nation, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and in a number of anthologies. His essays and reviews can be found in The Georgia Review, San Francisco Review of Books, Kenyon Review, and his poetry column Red Guitar at www.blackbird.vcu.edu.
Smith, a native of Savannah, Georgia, moved to Richmond, Virginia, to play college football. A number of his poems deal with the benefits, costs, values, and spectacle of sports.
Smith holds degrees in English, philosophy, general humanities, and creative writing from University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University. He's also studied writing at Bennington College in Vermont; British drama at Worcester College, Oxford University; and Renaissance and modern culture and literature at the Ezra Pound Center for Literature in Merano, Italy. His awards and honors include the Theodore Roethke Poetry Prize, the Guy Owen Poetry Prize, a Bread Loaf Scholarship in Poetry, and a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship.
At St. Christopher's School, established in 1911, Ron Smith has held the George O. Squires Chair of Distinguished Teaching and is currently Writer-in-Residence, the first person ever to hold that title. In public and private schools, he conducts workshops in poetry for teachers and for students of all ages. At Mary Washington College, Virginia Commonwealth University, and University of Richmond, he has taught courses in creative writing, 20th century American poetry, and the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe.
In 2005, Ron was an inaugural winner of the $10,000 Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry. In 2006 he became a Curator for that prize.
Ron Smith is the author of Running Again in Hollywood Cemetery, runner-up for the National Poetry Series Open Competition and the Samuel French Morse Prize (Margaret Atwood and Donald Hall, judges) and published by University Presses of Florida. His Moon Road: Poems 1986-2005 has just been issued by Louisiana State University Press, and has been praised by Pulitzer-winner Claudia Emerson and Pulitzer-finalist David Wojahn, as well as the Italian scholar and translator Massimo Bacigalupo and the world-famous journalist and novelist Tom Wolfe.
Ron Smith's poems have appeared in many periodicals, including The Nation, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and in a number of anthologies. His essays and reviews can be found in The Georgia Review, San Francisco Review of Books, Kenyon Review, and his poetry column Red Guitar at www.blackbird.vcu.edu.
Smith, a native of Savannah, Georgia, moved to Richmond, Virginia, to play college football. A number of his poems deal with the benefits, costs, values, and spectacle of sports.
Smith holds degrees in English, philosophy, general humanities, and creative writing from University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University. He's also studied writing at Bennington College in Vermont; British drama at Worcester College, Oxford University; and Renaissance and modern culture and literature at the Ezra Pound Center for Literature in Merano, Italy. His awards and honors include the Theodore Roethke Poetry Prize, the Guy Owen Poetry Prize, a Bread Loaf Scholarship in Poetry, and a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship.
At St. Christopher's School, established in 1911, Ron Smith has held the George O. Squires Chair of Distinguished Teaching and is currently Writer-in-Residence, the first person ever to hold that title. In public and private schools, he conducts workshops in poetry for teachers and for students of all ages. At Mary Washington College, Virginia Commonwealth University, and University of Richmond, he has taught courses in creative writing, 20th century American poetry, and the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe.
In 2005, Ron was an inaugural winner of the $10,000 Carole Weinstein Prize in Poetry. In 2006 he became a Curator for that prize.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 6, 2017
‘Meet Miss October!’
Miss October is a 50-year-old VW Kombi. She’s a migrant to Australia: from Germany via the UK, and she’s beautiful. Miss October is the main character in ‘Two Up Down Under’, which also features her owner Jim Smith, his twin brother Ron, a selection of vintage aircraft and some amazing Australian scenery.
Miss October’s story is an interesting one. Her fit out as a camper (with a Canterbury-Pitt camper conversion in 1967), followed by her restoration in 1994 and her emigration to Australia in 2002. Any VW aficionado will enjoy reading about Miss October (including how she came by that name).
I enjoyed Jim Smith’s ‘Up Again’: his account of rediscovering the joys of flying. How fortunate that Jim came across an Internet offer of ‘half-price flying training’ just up the road (from Canberra) in Goulburn.
But the heart of this book for me is Ron Smith’s ‘Two Up On The Road’ which is a delightful account of the trip he and Jim undertook in Miss October around the Canberra and Riverina regions of Australia. I’ve lived in the Canberra region for over forty years, and while I’m familiar with a number of the places Jim and Ron visited in Miss October, I’ve added a few more places to my ‘must visit’ list.
I can’t finish this review without mentioning the photographs. The photographs bring each of the journeys to life. And if you have an interest in vintage airplanes and (or) vintage cars, many of these photographs will be of interest. A picture is definitely worth a thousand words!
Note: My thanks to Jim Smith for providing me with an electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Miss October is a 50-year-old VW Kombi. She’s a migrant to Australia: from Germany via the UK, and she’s beautiful. Miss October is the main character in ‘Two Up Down Under’, which also features her owner Jim Smith, his twin brother Ron, a selection of vintage aircraft and some amazing Australian scenery.
Miss October’s story is an interesting one. Her fit out as a camper (with a Canterbury-Pitt camper conversion in 1967), followed by her restoration in 1994 and her emigration to Australia in 2002. Any VW aficionado will enjoy reading about Miss October (including how she came by that name).
I enjoyed Jim Smith’s ‘Up Again’: his account of rediscovering the joys of flying. How fortunate that Jim came across an Internet offer of ‘half-price flying training’ just up the road (from Canberra) in Goulburn.
But the heart of this book for me is Ron Smith’s ‘Two Up On The Road’ which is a delightful account of the trip he and Jim undertook in Miss October around the Canberra and Riverina regions of Australia. I’ve lived in the Canberra region for over forty years, and while I’m familiar with a number of the places Jim and Ron visited in Miss October, I’ve added a few more places to my ‘must visit’ list.
I can’t finish this review without mentioning the photographs. The photographs bring each of the journeys to life. And if you have an interest in vintage airplanes and (or) vintage cars, many of these photographs will be of interest. A picture is definitely worth a thousand words!
Note: My thanks to Jim Smith for providing me with an electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Displaying 1 of 1 review