Contact details +6469517508
Dr Thom Conroy PhD
Senior Lecturer
Doctoral Supervisor School of Humanities Media and Creative CommMy research interest is writing fiction, including short stories and novels. In 2016 my contemporary novel The Salted Air was published wit Penguin Random House. 2014 my historical novel The Naturalist was published with Random House. The Naturalist chronicles the life of Ernst Dieffenbach, a political refugee, naturalist, and ethnologist who visited New Zealand in 1839 as part of the New Zealand Company’s land-purchasing expedition. Dieffenbach is credited with the first European ascent of Taranaki as well as the compilation of the first non-missionary Maori grammar and dictionary.
My fiction has been published in over 20 journals and magazines in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. Please see the ‘Links’ section below for more on my research, including interviews, reviews, and writing samples.
Sometimes under the pen name Thomas Gough, my short fiction has appeared in various journals in the US and New Zealand, including Sport, Landfall, New England Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and Kenyon Review. It has also been recognised by Best American Short Stories 2012 and has won various other awards, including the Katherine Ann Porter Prize in Fiction and the Sunday Star-Times Short Fiction Competition.
I have experience supervising creative writing research projects at the honours through the PhD level. To date I’ve supervised nine Masters-level projects, including Masters of Creative Writing theses, such as Equal Others by Jillian Sullivan; Ganefs and Prophets, Philosophers and Fools by Cassy Green; and Cannibals and Survivors by Bonnie Etherington as well as traditional Masters of Arts projects including a creative component, such as Ralph Springett’s How Sure Are You about That?: Narratorial Uncertainty in Third Person Fiction. I am currently supervising a creative-critical PhD thesis by Rebecca Styles with a creative portion featuring a novel entitled Railway Hotel.
In 2014 I coordinated the first national conference devoted exclusively to teaching creative in New Zealand and I currently serve as the Director of the Aotearoa Creative Writing Research Network. I have editorial experience, most recently serving as a guest editor for Meniscus and Bravado literary journals. In 2013, I was awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence, which was based in part on my expertise in distance teaching.
Thom Conroy is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing. His novel The Salted Air was published this year, and his first novel, The Naturalist, was published in 2014 (both with Penguin Random House). His short fiction has appeared in journals in New Zealand and abroad, including Landfall, Sport, New England Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and Agni. His fiction has been recognised by Best American Short Stories 2012 and has won other awards, including the Katherine Ann Porter Prize in Fiction and the Sunday Star-Times Short Fiction Competition. In 2013 he received a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence.
Professional
Contact details
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Ph: 069517508
Location: Room 4.56, Sir Geoffrey Peren Building
Campus: Turitea
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy - Ohio University (2002)
Prizes and Awards
- New Zealand Society of Authors Heritage Week Book Awards, Finalist, 2015 - New Zealand Soceity of Authors (2015)
- Semi-Finalist for Iowa Short Fiction Prize (manuscript prize) - (2012)
- My short story 鈥楾he Evening鈥檚 Peace鈥� (NRO 2) was selected by series editor Heidi Pitlor from 4,000 publisher-submitted short fiction entries to Best American Short Stories 2011. My story was chosen to be among 80 included as 鈥楧istinguished Stories of 2010鈥�. - (2011)
- 2010 Academic of the Year - (2010)
- The Nimrod Hardman Katherine Ann Porter Prize for Fiction recognizes outstanding international fiction. My prize-winning story, "Idleness, Justice, Kingship, Love" was chosen from 652 short story entries. From: Nimrod Literary Journal - (2005)
- view more...
Research Expertise
Research Interests
fiction writing
craft of fiction
ethics of narration
Thematics
21st Century Citizenship
Area of Expertise
Field of research codes
Languages, Communication And Culture (200000):
Literary Studies (200500):
New Zealand Literature (excl. Maori Literature) (200505):
North American Literature (200506):
Studies In Creative Arts And Writing (190000):
Stylistics and Textual Analysis (200526)
Keywords
Thom's areas of expertise are creative wrting, American fiction, the short story, and narrative theory.
Research Outputs
Book
[Chapter]Authored by: Conroy, T.
[Chapter]Authored by: Conroy, T.Edited by: Conroy, T.
[Edited Book]Contributed to by: Conroy, T.Edited by: Conroy, T.
[Authored Book]Authored by: Conroy, T.
[Chapter]Authored by: Conroy, T.Edited by: Conroy, T.
Journal
[Journal article]Authored by: Conroy, T.
[Book Review]Authored by: Conroy, T.
[Book Review]Authored by: Conroy, T.
[Book Review]Authored by: Conroy, T.
Thesis
[Doctoral Thesis]Authored by: Conroy, T.
Conference
[Conference Oral Presentation]Authored by: Conroy, T.
[Conference Oral Presentation]Authored by: Conroy, T.
Other
[Oral Presentation]Authored by: Alvarado, L., Watson, G.Contributed to by: Watson, G.Edited by: Conroy, T.
[Oral Presentation]Authored by: Conroy, T., Walpert, B.
[Oral Presentation]Authored by: Conroy, T.
Teaching and Supervision
Teaching Statement
139.123 Creative Writing
139.285 Fiction Writing
139.380 Starting your Manuscript
139.703 Creative and Crtical Research
139.765 New Directions in Creative Research
Summary of Doctoral Supervision
| Position | Current | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Main Supervisor | 3 | 2 |
| Co-supervisor | 2 | 1 |
Current Doctoral Supervision
Main Supervisor of:
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Donna Banicevich Gera
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Doctor of Philosophy
Ahipara (The Sacred Fire) -
Joan Jia
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Doctor of Philosophy
Ecofeminist Consciousness in 鈥楶relude鈥� and Tales of Hulan River ---A Comparative Study of and beyond Katherine Mansfield and Xiao Hong -
Athena Knight
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Doctor of Philosophy
Cross Cultural Exchange between Japan and the West
Co-supervisor of:
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Whiti Hereaka
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Doctor of Philosophy
础谤颈腻 -
Ros Lewis
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Doctor of Philosophy
Invisible Courage: How do memoirists write about trauma ?
Completed Doctoral Supervision
Main Supervisor of:
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2020
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Gina Cole
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Doctor of Philosophy
Wayfinding Pasifikafuturism: An Indigenous Science Fiction Vision of the Ocean in Space -
2017
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Rebecca Styles
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Doctor of Philosophy
Inherited Body
Co-supervisor of:
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2020
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Jessica Richards
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Doctor of Philosophy
Illusions, Transformations and Iterations: storytelling as fiction, image, artefact.
Media and Links
Media
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27 May 2016 - Online
Weekend Name Drop: Thom Conroy
Author profile by blogger Antony Millen -
09 Aug 2014 - Radio
Interview on Saturday Mornings with Kim Hill
Kim and I discuss my historical novel The Naturalist. -
05 Jun 2016 - Radio
Interview with Lynn Freeman on Standing Room Only
Lynn Freeman and I discussed my novel The Salted Air. -
04 May 2016 - Online
"The Salted Air 鈥� a new novel by Thom Conroy"
Press Release from 黑料网 by Jennifer Little -
04 Jun 2016 - Newspaper, Online, Video
What Words Weave:
An article and associated video featuring my novel The Salted Air (Fairfax Media) - view more...
Other Links
- - Lynn Freeman and I discussed my novel The Salted Air.
- - Sonja de Friez reviews The Salted Air on Nine to Noon for Radio New Zealand.
- - Kim and I discuss my historical novel The Naturalist.
- - This article includes a video in which I read from The Salted Air.
- view more...