John Ash was born in Manchester, England in 1948, the son of schoolteachers. With a brief break to attend the University of Birmingham (B.A. 1969) and to take a post-graduation year in Cyprus, he remained in the city of his birth until 1985, at which time he moved to New York.

In New York, he became associated with the New York School of poets and formed a strong and lasting friendship with its leading proponent, John Ashbery. After stints teaching at the University of Iowa and the University of California, Berkeley, he moved to Istanbul in 1996, where he has lived since, first teaching at Bo?aziçi University, before moving to Kadir Has University.

During this time several of his books, including Selected Works and To the City, have appeared in Turkish translations, published by Yapi Kredi Publications, who are affiliated with the bank of the same name. Deluxe editions of The Anitolikon, published in a side-by-side English and Turkish edition by Yapi Kredi, featured illustrations by Peter Hristoff, a noted Turkish artist of Bulgarian Christian origin living in New York.

In a review of To The City, Poetry Magazine said that John Ash "could be the best English poet of his generation". In 2007 he was profiled in The Economist in an article by Hugh Pope, himself an author and formerly the Wall Street Journal correspondent in Istanbul. Pope has suggested that Ash is the leading light in a new "Istanbul School" of English-speaking poets taking their inspiration from the city.

Following Byzantine Journey, and other travel writing, Ash led tours the relevant sites and in 2006 wrote the script for the documentary "Istanbul for Aficionados". He has also appeared in a BBC guide to Istanbul, broadcast in 2005 on BBC Four's "Mediterranean Tales" strand.

Poetry

• The Parthian Stations (2007, ISBN 1-85754-872-8)
• To the City (2004, ISBN 1-58498-037-0)
• The Anatolikon (2002, ISBN 1-58498-011-7)
• Selected Poems (1996, ISBN 1-85754-155-3)
• The Burnt Pages (1991, ISBN 0-679-40175-X)
• Disbelief (1987, ISBN 0-85635-695-6)
• The Branching Stairs (1984, ISBN 0-85635-501-1)
• The Goodbyes (1982, ISBN 0-85635-423-6)
• The Bed (1981)
• Casino: A Poem in Three Parts (1978)

Fiction

• A Byzantine Journey (1995, ISBN 0-679-40934-3)

Travel

• Turkey, The Other Guide: Western and Southern Anatolia (2001, ISBN 975-08-0277-2)

Articles

• Field of Ruins in the Sand The New York Times, 1999, on Sergiopolis
• The Lost Heads of Balbura, The New York Times
• Celebration Istanbul New York Times Magazine, 2001
• Death by Drowning, The New York Times, 2002, on Yusufeli
• Istanbul's Glitter Domes The New York Times
• Bulgaria's Venerable Second City The New York Times, 2004, on Plovdiv
• Review: On the Edge, by Kenneth Koch, The New York Times
• Review: Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, by Philip Mansel, The Washington Post

Anthologies

His work has also appeared in a number of anthologies, including:

• The Best American Poetry series:
• The Best American Poetry 1988 (1988)
• The Best American Poetry 1990 (1990)
• The Best American Poetry 1991 (1991)
• The Best American Poetry 1992 (1992)
• The Harvill Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry in English (1999)
• New British Poetry (2004)