Ronnie J. Smith was born of U.S. Air Force parents in Udine, Italy, and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Loyola College (B.A.) and the University of Maryland. Ron played semi-pro basketball in Europe before entering the U.S. Air Force in 1983 to fly C-130 aircraft. He has traveled the world as a professional aviator, bringing a spiritual dimension to his writing through this inspiration. After many years flying in the polar regions, he was selected to be the in-theater commander of Operation DEEP FREEZE, the DoD logistics support to the U.S. Antarctic Program from 2005-2008. His poetry has appeared in The New York Times, The Wisconsin Review, and The Evansville Review, among others. He resides in St. Louis, Missouri.