Born in New Canaan, Connecticut, Ronald Palmer was raised in Bethel, Connecticut. He received degrees in English from the University of New Hampshire (B.A.), New York University (M.A.) and Binghamton University (Ph.D.). He has taught Literature and Creative Writing at Framingham State University, in Framingham, Massachusetts as well as New York University and The New School in New York City. He is the author of a first poetry collection, Logicalogics (Soft Skull Press, 2005) and a novel, Prick Queasy (Publication Studio, Fellow Travelers Series, 2013). Palmer received a postdoctoral stipend to work as a writer-in-residence at The Jan van Eyck Akademie in Maastricht, Netherlands. He returned to the United States in 2000 and began a career in biotechnology sales. Many of the poems in Brother Nervosa were written while working for Pfizer, Lilly, Teva, Gilead Sciences, Biogen, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). He lives in the Richmond District of San Francisco near Golden Gate Park with his husband, Kevin Rolston, and their magical Aussie Shephard, Kylie Fantastic.