David Coventry

Last updated

David Henry Halford Coventry
Born Wellington, New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealand
GenreLiterary Fiction
Years active2010 –
Website
davidhhcoventry.com

David Henry Halford Coventry (born 2 October 1969, Wellington) [1] is a New Zealand born author [2] and musician. Published in six different languages, his debut novel, The Invisible Mile (2015), was the winner of the 2016 Hubert Church Award for Fiction, [3] shortlisted for both the Ockham New Zealand Book Award [4] and the Sports Book Awards in the United Kingdom. [5]

Contents

Education

A former musician, sound engineer and film archivist, Coventry attended Hutt Valley High School from 1983 to 1986, has a BA in English literature and Religious studies (Victoria University of Wellington, 2000), an Honours Degree in English Literature (VUW, 2001) and a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters (VUW, 2010). [1] In 2022 he received a Doctorate of Philosophy from Victoria University for his thesis exploring ME/CFS. [6] [7]

Writing

Coventry's novel, The Invisible Mile , set during the 1928 Tour de France was described in The Sydney Morning Herald as its pick of the Week: "David Coventry's poetic odyssey relates ... with symbolic force and poetic finesse." [8] The New York Times included it in its book of the week section, stating the book is "Gorgeous.... Coventry's brooding narrative, in varying parts philosophical action-adventure, travelogue, family drama, war chronicle and psychological puzzler, is suffused with the ever-querying perspective of its haunted central character." [9] A review in Auckland's Metro Magazine said it was "A dream to read, in all senses of the word.... A trance-like account of the 1928 Tour de France . . . The writing is fierce, a bravura mix of narcissism, masochism and lyricism grounded in the honesty of the unnamed rider's journey into his self and the dawning realisation that the race has become a grand metaphor for the trauma of World War I." [10] Brian Clearkin at Landfall wrote: "a brilliant tour de force of writing talent and style that richly rewards the reader. [P]laces David Coventry among the elite of New Zealand authors." [11]

Coventry's work has been compared[ by whom? ] to that of Don DeLillo, Toni Morrison and Thomas Mann. [12] Coventry's second novel, Dance Prone , explores trauma, art and 1980s' post-hardcore punk rock. It was published in 2020. [13] Performance, Coventry's third novel, was published in June 2024. Exploring life and writing under the conditions of ME/CFS, the novel was described[ by whom? ] as a 'masterpiece of narrative disintegration' and compared to the work of Virginia Woolf and Thomas Bernhard. [14] He lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Awards and appearances

Coventry was the 2015 recipient of the Todd New Writer's Bursary.[ citation needed ] He appeared at the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival, The International Festival of Authors in Toronto (2017), the New Zealand Festival's Writer's Week in session with Lloyd Geering (2016), the Auckland Writers Festival (2016), and the Nelson Arts Festival (2016).[ citation needed ] In 2022 Coventry's Doctoral thesis was placed on the Victoria University of Wellington's Dean's List. [6] Coventry was the 2022 Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence at University of Canterbury. [15]

Literary works

Music and engineering

As a sound engineer he has produced works for the experimental groups Thela, [16] La Gloria and Empirical [17] The later pair as a contributing musician.

Related Research Articles

Victoria University of Wellington is a public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.

Kate Duignan is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer, reviewer and teacher.

Malcolm Arthur McKinnon is a New Zealand historian and political historian. McKinnon's work largely focuses on the history of New Zealand and New Zealand's international relations. McKinnon has held a number of editorial roles, including at New Zealand International Review and as theme editor of Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

Te Herenga Waka University Press or THWUP is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, located in Wellington, New Zealand. As of 2022, the press had published around 800 books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Knox</span> New Zealand writer

Elizabeth Fiona Knox is a New Zealand writer. She has authored several novels for both adults and teenagers, autobiographical novellas, and a collection of essays. One of her best-known works is The Vintner's Luck (1998), which won several awards, has been published in ten languages, and was made into a film of the same name by Niki Caro in 2009. Knox is also known for her young adult literary fantasy series, Dreamhunter Duet. Her most recent novels are Mortal Fire and Wake, both published in 2013, and The Absolute Book, published in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tusiata Avia</span> New Zealand poet and childrens author

Donna Tusiata Avia is a New Zealand poet and children's author. She has been recognised for her work through receiving a 2020 Queen's Birthday Honour and in 2021 her collection The Savage Coloniser won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. The Savage Coloniser and her previous work Wild Dogs Under My Skirt have been turned into live stage plays presented in a number of locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Catton</span> New Zealand novelist and screenwriter

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her award-winning debut novel, The Rehearsal, written as her Master's thesis, was published in 2008, and has been adapted into a 2016 film of the same name. Her second novel, The Luminaries, won the 2013 Booker Prize, making Catton the youngest author ever to win the prize and only the second New Zealander. It was subsequently adapted into a television miniseries, with Catton as screenwriter. In 2023, she was named on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent O'Sullivan (New Zealand writer)</span> New Zealand writer and academic (1937–2024)

Sir Vincent Gerard O'Sullivan was a New Zealand poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, critic, editor, biographer, librettist, and academic. From 1988 to 2004 he was a professor of English literature at Victoria University of Wellington, and in 2013 he was appointed the New Zealand Poet Laureate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Price (sculptor)</span> New Zealand artist

Phil Price is a New Zealand artist best known for his large-scale kinetic sculptures. Price's work incorporates engineering and design in works inspired by the natural world.

Clifton Mark Williams is a New Zealand poet, writer, academic, critic, editor of contemporary New Zealand literature. He holds a MA (Hons) from the University of Auckland and a Ph.D (1983) from the University of British Columbia. He is emeritus Professor of English at Victoria University of Wellington.

Alastair Gibson Smith was a New Zealand academic in the field of library and information science. He retired in 2014 after spending most of his career at Victoria University of Wellington.

John Greville Gibbons is a New Zealand rower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Noble (computer scientist)</span>

James Noble was the 2016 winner of the Dahl-Nygaard Prize. He was Professor of Computer Science at the Victoria University of Wellington, in Wellington, New Zealand until February 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Invisible Mile</span> 2015 novel by David Coventry

The Invisible Mile is the 2015 debut novel by New Zealand writer, David Coventry. The novel is a re-imagining of the 1928 Tour de France narrated in first-person by a fictional rider. The novel was a bestseller in New Zealand and the winner of the 2016 Hubert Church Award for Fiction. The novel has been translated into German, Spanish, Danish, Hebrew and Dutch. Critically acclaimed in New Zealand the novel has been named a book of the year in publications in the UK, Netherlands and New Zealand. Whilst it was also named as pick of the week in The Sydney Morning Herald and the New York Times Review of Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neville Jordan</span> New Zealand electrical engineer and businessperson (b. 1943)

Sir Neville Jordan is a New Zealand electrical engineer and businessman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Priestley</span> New Zealand academic, science historian and writer

Rebecca Katherine Priestley is a New Zealand academic, science historian, and writer. She is Professor in Science in Society at Victoria University of Wellington.

Pip Adam is a novelist, short story writer, and reviewer from New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whiti Hereaka</span> New Zealand writer (born 1978)

Whiti Hereaka is a New Zealand playwright, novelist and screenwriter and a barrister and solicitor. She has held a number of writing residencies and appeared at literary festivals in New Zealand and overseas, and several of her books and plays have been shortlisted for or won awards. In 2022 her book Kurangaituku won the prize for fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and Bugs won an Honour Award in the 2014 New Zealand Post Awards for Children and Young Adults. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Laurence Fearnley is a New Zealand short-story writer, novelist and non-fiction writer. Several of her books have been shortlisted for or have won awards, both in New Zealand and overseas, including The Hut Builder, which won the fiction category of the 2011 NZ Post Book Awards. She has also been the recipient of a number of writing awards and residencies including the Robert Burns Fellowship, the Janet Frame Memorial Award and the Artists to Antarctica Programme.

Rose Lu is a writer and software developer. Her book All Who Live on Islands is a series of autobiographic essays sharing her experience of growing up as a Chinese person in New Zealand and has been acclaimed as "an intimate and confident view of New Zealand life through the eyes of an Asian immigrant". In 2018, she was a recipient of the Creative Nonfiction Prize at the International Institute of Modern Letters. She has a bachelor's degree in mechatronics engineering from University of Canterbury and a master's degree in creative writing from Victoria University of Wellington.

References

  1. 1 2 Coventry, David (2016). The Invisible Mile (2nd ed.). United Kingdom: Picador. p. Cover Sleeve. ISBN   9781776560431.
  2. ↑ "'The invisible mile', the acclaimed narrative debut of David Coventry". Culturemas. 18 June 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  3. ↑ "Past Winners, New Zealand Book Awards Trust". www.nzbookawards.nz. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  4. ↑ Christian, Dionne (6 May 2016). "Contest for top book should be a thriller". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN   1170-0777 . Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  5. ↑ "Sports Book Awards, Cycling Book of the Year". sportsbookawards.com. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Doctoral Dean's list recipients | Faculty of Graduate Research". Victoria University of Wellington. 11 October 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  7. ↑ "David Coventry | International Institute of Modern Letters". Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  8. ↑ Woodhead, Cameron (18 July 2016). "The Invisible Mile review: David Coventry's poetic odyssey in the Tour de France". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  9. ↑ Stuart, Jan (16 June 2017). "Debut Novels for Armchair Olympians, Rom-Com Fans, and More". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  10. ↑ Sinclair, John. "The Invisible Mile – review – Metro". Metro Magazine. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  11. ↑ "Faith, Filth, Food, Water, Wine, Blister, Drug". Landfall Review Online. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  12. ↑ Niedenthal, Alec (13 December 2017). "New Routes in Fiction: David Coventry with Alec Niedenthal". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  13. ↑ https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/weekend-herald-canvas/20200718/281509343493280 . Retrieved 7 August 2020– via PressReader.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ↑ Coventry, David (13 June 2024). Perfromance. Wellington: Te Heranga Waka University Press. pp. i. ISBN   9781776920808.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  15. ↑ "Ursula Bethell Residency | University of Canterbury". The University of Canterbury. 21 September 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  16. ↑ "Thela – Thela". discogs. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  17. ↑ "LA Gloria, Empirical – LA Gloria / Empirical". discogs. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.