Terry Sturm

Terence Laurie Sturm (11 July 1941 – 25 May 2009) was a New Zealand professor of English literature and editor. His scholarship was mainly in the fields of Australian and New Zealand literature. He lectured at the University of Sydney from 1967 to 1980, after which he became professor of English at the University of Auckland. He edited the Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English (first edition 1991, second edition 1998).

Early life and education Sturm was born in Auckland on 11 July 1941, one of four children of orchardist Leslie Sturm and Gladys Ashby. He grew up in the suburb of Henderson; he attended Henderson High School and transferred to Auckland Grammar School at the suggestion of his English teacher. and received the Fowlds Memorial Prize for the best student in the arts faculty. In 1964 he married his first wife, Helen Gilbert. As professor at the University of Auckland and head of the English department for three terms, he expanded courses on both Australian and New Zealand literature, including establishing the first chair in New Zealand literature, held initially by Albert Wendt. Around 1993 his first marriage broke down, and he met Linda Cassells, the publisher for Oxford University Press; they married in 2002. The biography was edited and completed by Cassells, his widow.

Selected works The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English (editor, Oxford University Press, 1991 and 1998) An Unsettled Spirit: The Life & Frontier Fiction of Edith Lyttleton (Auckland University Press, 2003) Whim Wham's New Zealand: the best of Whim Wham, 1937–1988 (editor, Vintage Books, 2005) Allen Curnow: Simply by Sailing in a New Direction, a Biography (Auckland University Press, 2017, edited by Linda Cassells) Allen Curnow: Collected Poems (editor with Elizabeth Caffin, Auckland University Press, 2017)