Rhonda Ward is an Ohio native, born in Cincinnati and raised in Dayton.  The youngest of six children, she began writing to get a word in edgewise.  Her first influence in poetry was Paul Lawrence Dunbar.  She grew up across the street from the home where he lived (now a museum honoring his legacy) and began reciting his poems in elementary school. Her poetry explores African-American culture with a universal voice, taking everyday situations to visual levels that transport listeners into the world of her childhood with surgical attention to details. She shares her experiences of the past and the present, handling her subjects with a combination of grace and spunk. 

Ward lives and writes in New London, Connecticut. She has appeared at many venues to read her work. Most notably, she has been featured poet at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and opening voice at Arts Cafe Mystic for 2000 Cave Canem Prize winner, Major Jackson and at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point for Lyubomir Levchev, Poet Laureate of Bulgaria. Also in 2007, she traveled to Kendal, Cumbria England to participate in the Womens' Arts International Festival where she read with Janine Pomy Vega and where she also entered and won her first poetry slam. In 2005, Ward recorded a collection of her poems, As I Live and Breathe...Poems, a CD which highlights the passion she brings to her readings with styles ranging from traditional to performance.

She has organized numerous poetry readings in New London, CT, the most popular of which is an annual reading and brunch to celebrate National Poetry Month at the Golden Street Gallery. With standing room only attendance, this celebration has featured established and emerging poets from throughout New England, New York and New Jersey. She was a member of Painters and Poets, a group of female artists and poets who collaborated on the exhibition "In Harmony" at the Hoxley Gallery in Westerly, RI, in September 2005. In 2007, Ward organized Poets for Darfur, a benefit to raise funds for and awareness of the victims of the genocide taking place in the Sudan region.

In addition to her writing and appearances, Ward serves on the Board of Directors of The Writers' Block InK, an organization dedicated to encouraging youth to explore and share their world through writing and the performing arts. She has also conducted youth writing workshops.

Among other publications, Ward's poems have appeared in Temper Review, Long Island Quarterly, Siren, Poetry Bay, the New London Day, and online as featured guest poet at Burning Word (www.burningword.com).