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John Ash (29 June 1948 – 3 December 2019) was an
expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
and
writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
. His lifelong interest in Byzantium (especially its
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
) was a major theme which ran through his poetry, fiction and
travel writing Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...
, along with family, friends and the three major cities he has lived in. As well as his books (largely published by
Carcanet Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt. In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year. History ''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
), his work has appeared in ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...
'', ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' and ''
Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phil ...
''.


Life

John Ash was born in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in 1948, the son of schoolteachers. With a brief break to attend the
University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...
(B.A. 1969) and to take a post-graduation year in Cyprus, he remained in the city of his birth until 1985. In the notes to his first book, a sequence titled ''Casino'', Ash remarked that it had grown "out of several years of research for another project – a prose work which was to have been called "The Mauve Book: In Praise of Decadence". He also noted that titles of some sections and the over-all structure had a musical analogy. Musical references continued in the books he published while still in England. Moving to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1985, Ash became associated with the New York School of poets and formed a strong and lasting friendship with its leading proponent, John Ashbery. After stints teaching at the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...
and the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, he moved to
Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...
in 1996, where he has lived since, first teaching at
Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus strait. It has six faculties and tw ...
, before moving to
Kadir Has University Kadir Has University, also known as KHAS, is a foundation university in Fatih, Istanbul, established in 1997 by Kadir Has, the late Turkish industrialist and philanthropist. Kadir Has University has six faculties: Faculty of Art and Design; Fac ...
. During this time several of his books, including ''Selected Works'' and ''To the City'', have appeared in Turkish translations, published by Yapi Kredi Publications, who are affiliated with the bank of the same name. Deluxe editions of ''The Anitolikon'', published in a side-by-side English and Turkish edition by Yapi Kredi, featured illustrations by Peter Hristoff, a noted Turkish artist of Bulgarian Christian origin living in New York. In a review of ''To The City'', ''
Poetry Magazine ''Poetry'' (founded as ''Poetry: A Magazine of Verse'') has been published in Chicago since 1912. It is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. Founded by Harriet Monroe, it is now published by the Poetry Foundati ...
'' said that John Ash "could be the best English poet of his generation".Review: In the City
, ''
Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
'' In 2007 he was profiled in ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' in an article by
Hugh Pope Henry Vincent Pope, better known as Fr. Hugh Pope (1869–1946), was an English Dominican biblical scholar, Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the ''Pontificium Collegium Internationale Angelicum'', the future Pontifical University of Saint T ...
, himself an author and formerly the ''Wall Street Journal'' correspondent in Istanbul. Pope suggested that Ash was the leading light in a new "Istanbul School" of English-speaking poets taking their inspiration from the city.A Byzantine journey
Hugh Pope, ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'', 15 February 2007 Following ''Byzantine Journey'', and other travel writing, Ash led tours of the relevant sites and in 2006 wrote the script for the documentary "Istanbul for Aficionados". He also appeared in a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
guide to Istanbul, broadcast in 2005 on BBC Four's "Mediterranean Tales" strand.Mediterranean Tales: Istanbul
/ref>


Bibliography


Poetry

* ''In the Wake of the Day'' (Manchester 2010, ). * ''The Parthian Stations'' (Manchester 2007, ). * ''To the City'' (Jersey City 2004, ). * ''The Anatolikon and To the City'' (Manchester 2002, ). * ''The Anatolikon'' (Jersey City 2000, ). * ''Selected Poems'' (Manchester 1996, ). * ''The Burnt Pages'' (Manchester 1991, ). * ''Disbelief'' (Manchester 1987, ), Poetry Book Society Choice. * ''The Branching Stairs'' (Manchester 1984, ). * ''The Goodbyes'' (Manchester 1982, ). * ''The Bed & Other Poems'' (London 1981, ), with an introduction by
Lee Harwood Lee Harwood (6 June 1939 – 26 July 2015) was a poet associated with the British Poetry Revival. Life Travers Rafe Lee Harwood was born in Leicester to maths teacher Wilfred Travers Lee-Harwood and Grace Ladkin Harwood, who were then living ...
. * ''Casino: A poem in three parts'' (London 1978, ).


Non-Fiction

* ''A Byzantine Journey'' (
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
, ).


Travel

* ''Turkey, The Other Guide: Western and Southern Anatolia'' (2001, ).


Articles


Field of Ruins in the Sand
''The New York Times'', 1999, on
Sergiopolis Resafa ( ar, الرصافة Reṣafa), also sometimes spelled Rusafa, and known in the Byzantine era as Sergiopolis (in greek Σεργιούπολις, Σεργιόπολις, "city of Saint Sergius") and briefly as Anastasiopolis (Αναστασ ...

The Lost Heads of Balbura
''The New York Times''
Celebration Istanbul
''New York Times Magazine'', 2001

''The New York Times'', 2002, on
Yusufeli Yusufeli ( hy, Բերդագրակ, Berdagrak; ka, ახალთი, Akhalti) is a town and district of Artvin Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located on the bank of Çoruh River 104 km south-west of the city of Artvin, on ...

Istanbul's Glitter Domes
''The New York Times''

''The New York Times'', 2004, on Plovdiv

by
Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; 27 February 1925 – 6 July 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77. He was a prominent poet of the New York School of poetry. This was a loose group of poets includ ...
, ''The New York Times''
Review: Constantinople: City of the World's Desire
by
Philip Mansel Philip Mansel (born 1951) is a historian of courts and cities, and the author of a number of books about the history of France and the Ottoman Empire. He was born in London in 1951 and educated at Eton College, Balliol College, Oxford, and obtain ...
, ''The Washington Post''


Anthologies

His work has also appeared in a number of anthologies, including: * The Best American Poetry series: ** '' The Best American Poetry 1988'' (1988) ** ''
The Best American Poetry 1990 ''The Best American Poetry 1990'', a volume in ''The Best American Poetry series'', was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Jorie Graham. The book contains seventy-five poems with a range of Poet, poet-authors from a college freshman to the ...
'' (1990) ** '' The Best American Poetry 1991'' (1991) ** '' The Best American Poetry 1992'' (1992) * '' The Harvill Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry in English'' (1999) * '' New British Poetry'' (2004)


Awards

* Whiting Award (1986)


References


External links


Carcanet profile

Ash's poem "The Middle Kingdom"

"The Sweeping Gesture"
an
an overview
from ''The North'' no. 8 (1990)

in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
Profile at The Whiting Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ash, John English travel writers Writers from Manchester Alumni of the University of Birmingham British expatriates in Turkey 1948 births 2019 deaths Academic staff of Boğaziçi University Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty British gay writers English LGBT poets English male poets English male non-fiction writers