Dr Sam Reese
Lecturer in Creative Writing
I currently teach on:
Introduction to Creative Writing, Writing to Order, Creative Research for Creative Writers, Writing Fiction, Contemporary Writing 2, Writing the Voice, Writing in the World, Tradition and Innovation
Tell us about yourself!
Where did you study? Originally from Aotearoa, New Zealand, I completed my undergraduate degree in English and Classics at Victoria University of Wellington, before completing a PhD at the University of Sydney.
What is the primary genre you write in? A story obsessive, I have written two collections of short fiction.
What other genres do you dabble in? Since I was young I have also had a passion for historical fiction, and am currently at work on a trilogy of novels set in the Roman world. Alongside fiction, I continue to write literary criticism – mostly focused on American literature.
Who are the writers who have influenced you the most? My taste in short stories is eclectic. I owe a lot to the early influence of Katherine Mansfield and Paul Bowles, though, and when it comes to historical fiction, I don’t think you could do better than Mary Renault.
What have you had published?
I was honoured that my first book, The Short Story in Midcentury America (2017), won the Arthur Miller First Book Award; with my critical hat on, I followed this up with Blue Notes: Jazz, Literature, and Loneliness (2019), which US magazine Jazz Times listed as one of their top 3 books of the year.
In 2019, Platypus Press published my first collection of short stories: Come the Tide. Hailed by Daisy Johnson as ‘one to watch,’ the collection is set to be followed by my second collection, on a distant ridgeline, later in 2021.
You can find more about Dr Sam Reese and other members of York St John’s staff on the university’s website.
Or, you can stay here and check out more of our Creative Writing Staff Profiles.