Mr. Ripatrazone teaches literature and writing at LVR, and is the advisor for the school's literary magazine, Mind Carpenter.
He is the Culture Editor of Image Journal, a national magazine of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art, and a Contributing Editor for the Catholic Herald, based in London, England. His most recent book, The Habit of Poetry: The Literary Lives of Nuns in Midcentury America, was published in May 2023 from Fortress Press. It is the first full-length study of the literary influence of American nuns and sisters in 20th century America. His previous books include Digital Communion: Marshall McLuhan's Spiritual Vision for a Virtual Age, the first full examination of Marshall McLuhan's faith, Wild Belief: Poets and Prophets in the Wilderness—about how poets, prophets, saints, and storytellers reveal spirituality in the wilderness (Broadleaf Books 2021) and Longing for an Absent God (Fortress Press 2020).
He has taught fiction and poetry at The College of New Jersey, as well as contemporary American fiction and sport literature/culture courses at Rutgers University. He taught for more than a decade at Bridgewater-Raritan HS.
Mr. Ripatrazone is the author of several other books of fiction, poetry, and literary criticism. He has written for many renowned magazines, including The Atlantic, GQ, Rolling Stone, Esquire, The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, Commonweal, America, The Iowa Review, The Sewanee Review, Literary Hub, and The Millions, where he founded and wrote the monthly poetry column for 5 years.
His nonfiction has received a "Best of the Christian Press" award, his fiction has received honors from ESPN: The Magazine, and his scholarly work has been cited in The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern American Fiction and The Bible in the American Short Story. He has appeared on ABC Radio, NPR, and Sirius XM to talk about his writing, teaching, and to convince more people to read Thomas Pynchon. He has worked on projects for Google, including their Google Play Books initiative.
He has an MA in English Literature, an MFA in Creative Writing, and completed some additional graduate coursework in theology and biblical criticism.
Mr. Ripatrazone lives in Sussex County with his wife and identical twin daughters.
He loves to run, and wrote about it for The Atlantic.
This bio was written in third person limited. He doesn't speak this way (thankfully).