Tom Kealey

Bio

Tom Kealey is the author of Thieves I’ve Known and The Creative Writing MFA Handbook. His awards include the Flannery O’Connor Prize and the Joseph Henry Jackson Award, and his stories have appeared in Glimmer Train, Story Quarterly, Best American NonRequired, Alaska Quarterly Review, Indiana Review and many other places.

Tom’s 20 years of teaching and administrating at Stanford has encompassed many areas. Along with Directors Eavan Boland and John L’Heureux he designed the Levinthal Tutorials, a unique one-on-one mentoring program between Stegner Fellows and Stanford Undergraduates. Tom guided the Levinthal Program from its inception in 2003 to 2023.

Along with Adam Johnson, Tom co-created the Graphic Novel Project at Stanford, a two-quarter course where students artists and writers design, create, and publish a full-length graphic novel. Titles included Shake Girl, Virunga, and Pika-don. The Graphic Novel Project has been a mainstay of the Creative Writing Program since 2008.

Tom designed the Fiction Into Film program and Fiction Into Film minor concentration in the CW Program.

One of the most popular writing courses at Stanford is the Novel Writing Intensive course, now in its 14th year. Tom Kealey and Scott Hutchins guide students who write a full-length novel of 50,000 words. Based on National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWrimo), over 300 Stanford students have completed NaNoWrimo under the guidance of Tom and Scott.

Tom has also taught Creative Nonfiction, Screenwriting Intensive, the Novel Salon, Creative Expressions, Science Fiction, Dialogue Writing, New Media Writing, Imaginative Realms, and many others.

In the English Department, Tom co-created The Secret Lives of the Short Story with Gavin Jones, an exploration of the short story’s evolution, voices, and techniques from the 19th to the 21st century, as well as Short Story to Big Screen, also taught with Gavin Jones, where students explored the art of screenplay adaptation.

Tom’s current favorite course is First Chapters, where students explore how an opening chapter sets the stage for the rest of a novel. Students complete a first chapter of their own, and then workshop it in class.

As Curriculum Coordinator of Creative Writing from 2008-2019, Tom designed the entire Creative Writing Undergraduate Course schedule, over 100 courses, on an annual basis. He worked closely with program director Eavan Boland and administrator Christina Ablaza to satisfy multiple requirements at the department, program, lecturer, and student level.

As Jones Teaching Mentor, from 2005-2023, Tom advised and mentored over 35 creative writing lecturers over 18 years. Tom introduced new lecturers to program requirements and resources, designed orientations and follow-ups, and often visited classes and offered feedback, and provided trouble-shooting advice in classroom/student situations.

As Liaison to and Curriculum Coordinator of Continuing Studies, 2008-2020, Tom worked closely with program director Eavan Boland and dean of continuing studies Dan Colman. He coordinated over 60 classes each year taught by 35 lecturers. Tom designed each year’s Creative Writing Continuing Studies schedule.

And of course Tom was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford Creative Writing from 2001-2003. He continues to enjoy his Stanford experience.

Tom received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he received the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Academic Appointments

• Lecturer, Creative Writing