David Henry Halford Coventry (born 2 October 1969,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

born author 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, shortlisted for both the Ockham New Zealand Book Award and the Sports Book Awards in the United Kingdom.

Education

A former musician, sound engineer and film archivist, Coventry attended

Hutt Valley High School Hutt Valley High School is a State school, state coeducational secondary school located in central Lower Hutt, New Zealand. A total of students from Years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18) attend the school as of making the school one of the largest i ...

from 1983 to 1986, has a BA in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

and Religious studies (

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a 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. The university is well know ...

, 2000), an Honours Degree in English Literature (VUW, 2001) and a Masters in Creative Writing from the

International Institute of Modern Letters The International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) ( mi, Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o te Ao) is a centre of creative writing based within Victoria University of Wellington. Founded in 2001, the IIML offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses (i ...

(VUW, 2010). In 2022 he received a Doctorate of Philosophy from Victoria University for his thesis exploring

ME/CFS Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing core symptoms are ...

Writing

Coventry's novel, '' The Invisible Mile'', set during the

1928 Tour de France The 1928 Tour de France was the 22nd edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 17 June to 15 July. It consisted of 22 stages over . The Tour was won by Nicolas Frantz, his second win. He held the yellow jersey from beginning to end, despi ...

was described in ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' as its pick of the Week: "David Coventry's poetic odyssey relates ... with symbolic force and poetic finesse." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 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." A review in Auckland's ''

Metro Magazine ''Metro Magazine'' is a trade magazine for bus and rail transit and motorcoach operators, published in the United States since 1904, taking its current name in 1975.Di Giacomo, Frank. "100 years of deadlines". ''Metro Magazine'', July 2004, p. 4. ...

'' 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." Brian Clearkin at '' Landfall'' wrote: "a brilliant tour de force of writing talent and style that richly rewards the reader. aces David Coventry among the elite of New Zealand authors." Coventry's work has been compared to that of Don DeLillo,

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' So ...

and

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

. Coventry's second novel, '' Dance Prone'', explores trauma, art and 1980s'

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

punk rock. It was published in 2020. ''Performance'', Coventry's third novel, was published in June 2024. Exploring life and writing under the conditions of

, the novel was described as a 'masterpiece of narrative disintegration' and compared to the work of

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

and

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizati ...

. He lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Awards and appearances

Coventry was the 2015 recipient of the Todd New Writer's Bursary. 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 Sir Lloyd George Geering (born 26 February 1918) is a New Zealand theologian who faced charges of heresy in 1967 for teaching that the Bible's record of Jesus' death and resurrection is not true. He considers Christian and Muslim fundamental ...

(2016), the

Auckland Writers Festival Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki is the largest annual literary festival in Aotearoa New Zealand since 1999. It has about 200 public events each year featuring local and international writers as guests. History and staff The inaug ...

(2016), and the Nelson Arts Festival (2016). In 2022 Coventry's Doctoral thesis was placed on the Victoria University of Wellington's Dean's List. Coventry was the 2022 Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence at University of Canterbury.

Literary works

* ''The Invisible Mile'' (2015) * ''Dance Prone'' (2020) * Performance (2024)

Music and engineering

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coventry, David 1969 births Living people New Zealand male short story writers 21st-century New Zealand novelists International Institute of Modern Letters alumni Musicians from Wellington Writers from Wellington City 21st-century New Zealand short story writers New Zealand male novelists