Jack Conway (J. North Conway) was the author of seventeen nonfiction books and recipient of the 2019 John Curtis Award for Lifelong Learning in honor of his entire body of work. Other awardees include David McCullough.

He wrote a quartet of books on New York City during the Gilded Age: Queen of Thieves (2014), Bag of Bones (2012), The Big Policeman (2010), and King of Heists (2009). King of Heists was chosen as one of the top five books of the summer of 2009 by Reader's Digest. Three of his books have been optioned for theatrical release. He was also an accomplished poet. His poems appeared in a variety of literary magazines, journals, and anthologies, including: Poetry; The Norton Book of Light Verse; The Nantucket Review; The Columbia Review; In A Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare, David Starkey and Paul J. Willis, editors, The University of Iowa Press; Folger Magazine, the flagship publication of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC; and The Antioch Review.

He worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for twenty-five years and taught English at Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts. He had previously taught at The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth; Bridgewater State University; Northeastern University; and Boston University's College of Communication. He held a master's degree from Vermont College and lived in Assonet, Massachusetts.