Ronald E. Yates is an award-winning author of historical fiction and action/adventure novels, including the popular and highly-acclaimed Finding Billy Battles trilogy. His extraordinarily accurate books have captivated fans from around the world who applaud his talent for blending fact and fiction. Ron is a former foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and Professor Emeritus of Journalism at the University of Illinois where he was also the Dean of the College of Media. His award-winning book, "The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles," is the second in his Finding Billy Battles trilogy of novels and was published in June 2016. The first book in the trilogy, "Finding Billy Battles," was published in 2014. Book #3 of the trilogy (The Lost Years of Billy Battles) was published in July 2018. Ron has been a presenting author at the Kansas Book Festival,  the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books,and the San Diego Book Festival, among other venues. He is also the author of The Kikkoman Chronicles: A Global Company with A Japanese Soul, published by McGraw-Hill. Other books include Aboard the Tokyo Express: A Foreign Correspondent's Journey through Japan, a collection of columns translated into Japanese, as well as three journalism textbooks: The Journalist's Handbook, International Reporting and Foreign Correspondents, and Business and Financial Reporting in a Global Economy. Before leaving the world of professional journalism where he toiled 25 years, Ron lived and worked in Japan, Southeast Asia, and both Central and South America where he covered several history-making events including the fall of South Vietnam and Cambodia; the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing; and wars and revolutions in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, among other places. His work as a war correspondent resulted in several awards, including the Inter-American Press Association's Tom Wallace Award for coverage of Central and South America; the Peter Lisagor Award from the Society of Professional Journalists; three Edward Scott Beck Awards for International Reporting, and three Pulitzer nominations. Ron is a proud graduate of the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas and a veteran of the U.S. Army where he served in the Army Security Agency. He lives north of San Diego, in Southern California’s wine country.  He writes a blog entitled "ForeignCorrespondent" that can be found at: http://ronaldyatesbooks.com/category/foreign-correspondent His Website and authors pages can be found at: http://ronaldyatesbooks.com and at the Authors' Guild: http://www.ronaldyates.com/index.htm and Amazon's Author Central page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KHDVZI/-/e/B00KQAYMA8/    

LITERARY AWARDS:
The Lost Years of Billy Battles (Book 3 in the Finding Billy Battles Trilogy) was named Best Book of the Year in 2019 by Chanticleer International Book Awards AND the Grand Prize Winner in the Goethe Historical Fiction Category.
Grand Prize Winner of the 2017 KCT International Literary Award; Winner, 2018 Book Excellence Award, Action/Adventure; John E. Weaver Excellent Reads Award, Historical Fiction 2017; First Place: 2016 Chanticleer International Book Awards in the Literary Category; 2016
New Apple Literary Award in the Action/Adventure category; Finalist: 2017 Diamond Book Award in the United Kingdom; Finalist: 2016 Laramie Award; Kansas Book Festival Official Selection 2014.

JOURNALISM AWARDS:
Four Pulitzer Prize nominations; three Edward Scott Beck Awards for international reporting; Peter Lisagor Award from the Society of Professional Journalists; Inter-American Press Association's Tom Wallace Award for coverage of Central and South America.