Ronald W. Kenyon

Ronald W. Kenyon, author, educator, lecturer and ghostwriter, is the author of thirty-two books, including compilations of non-fiction narratives about France, Florida and the Middle East, ten volumes of photography and a ghostwritten biography.

Born and raised in Kentucky, Kenyon graduated from the University of Michigan where he studied English, French, Spanish and political science. He was awarded two Hopwood creative writing awards, and his one-act play, MANSON, was produced. The recipient of a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship, he attended graduate school at Stanford University. He received a National Defense Education Act scholarship for studies at Saint Lawrence University in Canton, New York.

In Washington, Ronald W. Kenyon served as an investigative researcher in the U.S House of Representatives and was certified as a French-English interpreter by the U.S. Department of State in 1990.

Ronald W. Kenyon spent over half a century living and working in France, Washington, D.C. and the Middle East.

As a free-lance Paris-based photographer, Kenyon's works received numerous awards and publications in France. Sixty-five of his photographs of Asir Provence, Saudi Arabia, were exhibited in 1980 and a selection was published in 2020 as ASIR: THE UNKNOWN ARABIA.

SELECTED WORKS

FLORIDIANS: REAL STORIES FROM THE SUNSHINE STATE. The cast of characters in these seventeen stories of fascinating Floridians includes the living and the dead, the famous and the infamous, murderers, imposters, royal pretenders, the woman who was elected chief of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, a chess champion who founded the city of Punta Gorda and the first two Jewish members of the United States Senate. Even John Lennon makes an appearance in FLORIDIANS.

ON THE TRAIL IN FRANCE documents in over 400 pages a French-speaking American discovering the soul of France off the beaten track on foot. The author narrates his long-distant hikes and his "unexpected encounters with total strangers" including a serial killer, in nine distinct regions of France. The text is complemented by tables, maps and over 40 photographs by the author.

QSL: HOW I TRAVELED THE WORLD AND NEVER LEFT HOME is the first book published anywhere reproducing in color a collection of vintage radio reception cards, known as QSL cards, from shortwave radio stations around the world. The book was released in 2020 and reviewed favorably in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Taiwan and Japan.

MONEY: PICTURES AND STORIES OF CURRENCY FROM AROUND THE WORLD is a collection of full-color reproductions of 90 banknotes issued by 45 sovereign nations and two multi-national monetary agencies, accompanied by explanatory texts and an eleven-page introduction.

FRENCH TELECARTES: BIRTH AND DEATH OF AN EPHEMERAL PHENOMENON is the first book in English to document the French phenomenon of collecting phonecards. It is illustrated in color with more than 250 vintage French phonecards and is accompanied by a 35-page introduction. This book is also available in French as TÉLÉCARTES FRANÇAISES: UNE EPOPÉE ÉPHÉMÈRE.

In 1995, as liaison officer, Kenyon accompanied renowned composer Terence Blanchard and his band on a month-long tour of seven countries of Latin America sponsored by the United States Information Agency. He documented the tour in a biographical essay, "Labios de Fuego," published in STATUES OF LIBERTY: REAL STORIES FROM FRANCE, in 2015.

In 2021, Kenyon released a portfolio of his color photographs of the Eiffel Tower at night accompanied by an essay by French novelist and playwright Claire Béchet evoking the Eiffel Tower published as TOUR EIFFEL NUIT in French and EIFFEL TOWER NIGHT in English

Ronald W. Kenyon resides in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he continues writing, publishing and lecturing.

June 2026