In his first book since the novel Napoleon's Retreat, and his first collection of poems in almost a decade, Robert Allen dazzles with his astonishingly diverse work. Among other things, Ricky Ricardo Suites contains 46 new sections of the long poem 'The Encantadas,' which Phil Hall called "...a wondrous poem: dense, lush, hypnotic."

Robert S. Allen earned his doctorate in history at the University of Wales. His previous publications include The British Indian Department and the Frontier in North America (1975), Native Studies in Canada: A Research Guide (1989, 3d ed.), and Loyalist Literature (1982). Allen lives in Ottawa and is deputy chief, Claims and Historical Research Centre, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. The centre's mandate is to facilitate native researchers and others in aspects of native history and land-claims investigations.

Robert Allen's profile page

"In his first poetry collection since Magellan's Clouds, New and Selected Poems (1990, Vehicule Press, Signal Editions), Allen writes clear and provocative poems on a range of subjects, casually observing Errol Flynn's cock, getting cable, conversations of what Al Purdy could get away with, Ricky Ricardo, and on the birth of western music."
— The Antigonish Review, 2002