Jack Dempsey

Jack Dempsey (born 1955) grew up in Stoneham, just north of Boston, Massachusetts. After his B.A. from UMASS-Amherst in 1979 he began freelance writing/editing in New York City, and then lived 2 years in Crete completing ARIADNE'S BROTHER: A NOVEL ON THE FALL OF BRONZE AGE CRETE (Athens: Kalendis 1996). At Brown University he taught Writing and Speaking while he edited Thomas Morton's 1637 NEW ENGLISH CANAAN and completed Morton's biography, plus a 1-hr. documentary film, NANI: A NATIVE NEW ENGLAND STORY (distributed by V-Tape and Shenandoah Films). The journals "Ethnohistory" and "Early American Literature" called his works on Morton "definitive" and "required reading." For years an instigator of gatherings each May at the site of Merrymount (Quincy, MA) to honor Morton's practical and poetic achievements, it's still a goal "before 2020" to turn Morton's story as "America's First Rascal" into a feature film. Meanwhile, Mass. Governor Deval Patrick proclaimed May 1st as Thomas Morton Day in 2011.

From 2001-2015 Dempsey was Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Bentley University and in 2010 was voted Best Part Time Professor there for transformative work with international students. Works: 21ST CENTURY SPEAKING: POWER TOWARD EVERY GOAL, a 2010 revised edition of MYSTIC FIASCO: HOW THE INDIANS WON THE PEQUOT WAR, and CALENDAR HOUSE: CLUES TO MINOAN TIME FROM KNOSSOS LABYRINTH (2011). These, and PEOPLE OF THE SEA: A NOVEL OF THE PROMISED LAND (2017) are features of his professional website---ANCIENTLIGHTS.ORG.

With appearances from NPR to CRETE-TV, and publishing a range of short works at his blog jackdempseywriter@wordpress.com, since 2015 Dempsey has lived in Crete, and published THE KNOSSOS CALENDAR (2016) based on public lectures. He has also posted a brief biography/letters of late poet/feminist Barbara Mor (at Ancientlights). Contact at jpd37@hotmail dot c-o-m.