Thom Braun

In a varied career, Thom has been an academic, an international marketing director, a brand consultant, a creative strategy adviser for a global communications business, an Anglican priest – and the author of fiction and non-fiction books across several genres.

He read English at St John’s College, Oxford, before going on to complete his first PhD (in English) at University College London. His second PhD (in the History of Art) was more recently completed at Birkbeck College, University of London.

His first book, Disraeli the Novelist – a literary biography of Benjamin Disraeli – was published in 1981 by George Allen & Unwin (and reprinted by Routledge in 2016). Thom has also edited two of Disraeli’s novels – Sybil and Coningsby – for Penguin books.

Thom’s twelve years spent as a practising Anglican priest found expression through two humorous novels – Holy Orders and Free Spirits – published by HarperCollins in 1995 and 1996 respectively (and also issued in German language editions). A more satirical tale about the established church trying to embrace the modern world – kingdom.com – was published by SCM-Canterbury Press in 2003.

In The Philosophy of Branding – published by Kogan-Page in 2004 – Thom found a light-hearted way of summarising mainstream philosophical thinking through the lens of consumer marketing. Within six months of its publication, the book had been reprinted three times in English and published in ten different foreign language editions.

Thom has also written plays on historical themes. Jean-Jacques (about the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau) featured as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2008, and George in Time (a play for children about King George III) was performed at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds in 2010.

Since retiring from business and completing his second PhD (in 2018), Thom has focused his research and writing on creating a platform for historical fiction based around key figures from the world of English Literature and the History of Art.