Leonie John is a literary studies postdoc and the academic project manager of “Australian Studies”, an online master's programme that is currently being developed and will be offered in collaboration with multiple German and European partner universities soon. Leonie completed her Master of Education at the University of Cologne and the German Sports University Cologne in 2016 and subsequently pursued an English Studies PhD as a scholarship holder at the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne. Her thesis (“The Negotiation of Im/Mobilities in Contemporary Anglophone Māori Short Fiction”) is forthcoming with Palgrave as a two-volume publication. Leonie has published on various Māori texts written in English, on teaching such texts in a German context, and on literary research ethics. She is the vice chair of the German Association for Australian Studies.

Books

• Mobilities in Contemporary Maori Short Fiction. Volume 1. Palgrave. Forthcoming 2026.
• Mobilities in Contemporary Maori Short Fiction. Volume 2. Palgrave. Forthcoming 2027.

Chapters in Edited Collections

• “Teaching Māori literature as a tauiwi scholar: A German case study” In: Janet Wilson/Paloma Fresno-Calleja (eds.). Beyond Borders: New Zealand Literature in the Global Marketplace. London: Routledge, 2023, pp. 103-117.
• “Becoming Tupaea: Interweaving Moments of Contact in Witi Ihimaera’s ‘The Thrill of Falling’.” In: Isabell Oberle/Dorine Schellens/Michaela Frey/Clara Braune/Diana Römer (eds.). Literaturkontakte: Kulturen – Medien – Märkte. Berlin: Frank & Timme, 2018, pp. 77–95.

Journal Articles

• With Christina Ringel and Friderike Zahn. "Emerging Research in Australian Studies." In: Australian Studies Journal: Zeitschrift für Australienstudien (Special Issue: Emerging Research in Australian Studies) 37, 2023, pp. 9-11.
• “Teaching Māori Literature as a Tauiwi Scholar: A German Case Study” In: Journal of Postcolonial Writing 58 (1), 2022, pp. 402-416. DOI: 10.1080/17449855.2022.2058886.
• “With your foodbasket and my foodbasket, the visitors will be well: Combining postcolonial and Indigenous theory in approaching Māori literature.” Special Issue: Indigenous and postcolonial studies. In: ariel: A Review for International English Literature 51(2-3), 2020, pp. 149–176.
• “‘I was going places’: Investigating the Complexities of Travelling Indigenous Characters in Contemporary Māori Short Fiction.” Special Issue: Moving Centers & Traveling Cultures. In: Kairos: A Journal of Critical Symposium 4(1), 2019, pp. 27-44. Open Access: https://kairostext.in/index.php/kairostext/article/view/62/50.
• “‘i am the dreams of your tipuna’: Constructing Oceanic memory in contemporary anglophone Māori literature.” In: Pacific Dynamics 2(2), 2018, pp. 146–160.

WiSe 23/24
Multi-, Inter-, and Transcultural Perspectives on Literature (BA/MA course, University of Cologne)

SoSe 23
Postcolonial Migrant Literature (BA/MA course, University of Cologne)

WS 22/23
(Anti)Nuclear Literature (BA/MA course, University of Cologne)

WS 21/22
Indigenous Literature from New Zealand - Roots and Routes (BA course, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)

WS18/19
Contemporary Indigenous New Zealand Fiction (BA course, University of Cologne)

Winter Semester 2025/26
No office hour.

Leonie is currently Australian Studies Online Project Coordinator at the Centre for Australian, Aotearoa and Pacific Studies.