In the following interview, which was conducted in August, 1985, Thomas discusses her literary themes and interests and biographical influences on her writing.

Grady is the editor of The Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories (1980), The Penguin Book of Modern Canadian Short Stories (1982), and the journal Books in Canada. In the following essay, he states that Thomas's stories set in Africa present women at various stages of self-discovery.

Grady is the editor of The Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories (1980), The Penguin Book of Modern Canadian Short Stories (1982), and the journal Books in Canada. In the following essay, he examines how Thomas's stories set in Africa present women at various stages of self-discovery.

In the following essay, Howells examines Thomas's story endings in Real Mothers, noting that their indefiniteness signals the still-unexplored territory in modern women's lives of revising male-centered myths of human relationships.

A leading Canadian experimental writer, Bowering devises inventive literary forms and techniques to explore themes related to art, language, and identity. His preoccupation with art and language is tempered by irreverent humor, sensuality, and an abiding concern with Canadian society and culture. In the following essay, Bowering studies the structures of the interrelated novellas Munchmeyer and Prospero on the Island, which he perceives as commentaries on writing as a source of pleasure and a means of esca...

Tiger is a Canadian writer, educator, and broadcaster. In the following essay, she analyzes Thomas's autobiographical construction of her characters' memories and its effect on her definition of female space and self-exploration.

Quigley is an editor for the journal Essays on Canadian Writing and ECW Press, where she works on the Canadian Writers and Their Works series. In the following essay, she studies The Wild Blue Yonder as feminist fiction.

In the following essay, Quigley analyzes Thomas's depiction of men in her fiction, as well as her use of a wide variety of ethnicities in her secondary characters.

In the following review, Godard explores the relationships of language and narrative to meaning in Real Mothers.

In the following essay, Dorscht explores Thomas's interpretation of the notion of self as it is depicted in language.

In the following essay, Thomas discusses her fascination with words and language.

In the following essay, Thomas discusses her fascination with words and language.

A Canadian poet, educator, and critic, Davey has exerted significant influence on contemporary Canadian literature as the editor of the journal Tish. Davey has stated: "The writing I value unmasks conventions, traditions, mythologies, all things that are a static or valorized shape in experience, even the conventions one inevitably establishes in one's own texts. " In the following excerpt, Davey contends that Thomas's short stories call attention to archetypes, traditional role...

In the following essay, Butling argues that Thomas's use of autobiographical details in her short stories allows her to create female characters who are more "real" than those of other women writers in that they resist falling into paradigmatic female categories.

Stories written by Audrey Thomas tell about things happening to one, & the condition of that one, a person very much alone in the world. She is a child alone in an ugly & baffling world of adults, she is a North American woman alone in a bungalow in West Africa or in a museum in Mexico, she is a virgin far from home, bare naked in a college dorm on the North Sea. She is usually trapt alone in the self, resentful or fearful of failing at her role somewhere in society, an identity thrust at her out of...

In the following review of The Wild Blue Yonder, Scanlan notes Thomas's ability to capture intimate and sometimes painful moments in human relationships.

In the following review, Guth finds Graven Images challenging and complex, but somewhat inscrutable for the reader.

Internationally acclaimed as a poet, novelist, and short story writer, Atwood is a major figure in Canadian letters. She has helped to define and identify the goals of contemporary Canadian literature and has earned a distinguished reputation among feminist writers for her exploration of women's issues. In the following positive review of Ten Green Bottles and Ladies and Escorts, Atwood discusses the strengths of Thomas's short fiction.

In the following review, Fee contends that Thomas 's best fiction in Goodbye Harold, Good Luck combines traditional subjects with subtle experimental techniques.

A commentator on the arts, Wachtel has worked as a writer, broadcaster, and host of radio programs produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In addition, she has edited two works about domestic abuse against women and coauthored a study about the legal rights of women in Women and the Constitution (1991). In the following review of Real Mothers and Two in the Bush, and Other Stories, Wachtel perceives Thomas as a skilled recorder of the problems and dynamics of modern adult and family relationship...

In the following review, Van Luven praises Thomas's exploration of new themes and subject matter in Coming Down from Wa, but finds the novel "not wholly satisfying."

In the following review, Hatch identifies strengths and weaknesses in the collection Goodbye, Harold, Good Luck.

Ricou is a Canadian writer and educator. In the following review, Ricou assesses The Wild Blue Yonder, concluding that Thomas's wordplay creates in her stories tension, irony, and at times unparalleled beauty.

The ostensible subject matter of Audrey Thomas' book is familiar to her readers. Like many of her short stories, Blown Figures explores the blurred edges of sanity and madness; its protagonist Isobel, relives the experiences of Mrs. Blood, returning to Africa in search of the child she had miscarried there five years earlier. This journey into the past to face its horrors and bury its corpses is a familiar literary convention. But there is nothing reassuring about Thomas' handling of it just a...

In the following review, Ricou identifies characteristics of the narratives of The Wild Blue Yonder.

I Canadian educator and critic who has published editions of works by Charlotte and Anne Brontë, Rosengarten served as an editor for the journal Canadian Literature from 1977 to 1986. In the following excerpt, he offers a favorable assessment of the novellas Munchmeyer and Prospero on the Island.

A Canadian educator and critic who has published editions of works by Charlotte and Anne Brontë, Rosengarten served as an editor for the journal Canadian Literature from 1977 to 1986. In the following excerpt, he offers a favorable assessment of the novellas Munchmeyer and Prospero on the Island.

In the following review, Barnwell praises The Wild Blue Yonder, observing that Thomas expertly portrays women made cynical by the brutality of the male arena.

In the following review, Mackay praises Thomas's presentation of emotionally scarred women in The Wild Blue Yonder.

Harvor is a Canadian educator, poet, and fiction writer. In the following review, she voices a mixed opinion of Graven Images, finding the novel's collage style superficial but praising Thomas's evocative descriptive language.

Stephens is a Canadian educator, critic, and an editor for the journal Canadian Literature. In the following review of Ten Green Bottles, he lauds Thomas as an exemplary practitioner of the short story.

Stephens is a Canadian educator, critic, and editor for the journal Canadian Literature. In the following review of Ten Green Bottles, he lauds Thomas as an exemplary practitioner of the short story.

In the following review of The Wild Blue Yonder, Hussein observes that Thomas treats "the seemingly insignificant texture of our lives. "

In the following essay, Thesen recounts teaching the story "Aquarius" to college freshmen, revealing to them the distrust they should have of the story's narrator, a disgruntled husband.

In the following excerpt from a review of Goodbye Harold, Good Luck, Yanofsky finds Thomas's talent for depicting poignant moments well suited to the short story form.

In the following review, Corbeil lauds Thomas's aptitude for making her stories fresh and new.

In the following review, Horton concludes that while Coming Down from Wa lacks drama, Thomas's evocative imagery makes the novel compelling.

Songs My Mother Taught Me takes its title from a sentimental Victorian drawing room ballad. This seems appropriate for a portrait of a battered but charming adolescent girl who spends a great deal of time wallowing in selfish self-pity. There is, however, a courageousness about Isobel Cleary which engages the reader, in spite of the literary and nostalgic paraphernalia that surrounds her. Occasionally one encounters a talented and evocative writer who does not trust her own talent. Audrey Thomas's fo...

Audrey Thomas has made her bondage as daughter into an entire book [Songs My Mother Taught Me]. It is justifiable to describe it as Thomas' bondage, not that of a character: the heroine is called Isobel Cleary, but [the biographical details connect]…. (p. 46) Warne, Isobel's father, an ardent Mason, a schoolteacher who puts on slang to gab with gas station attendants and the sellers of bait for the trout in his father-in-law's lake, is too improvident to look after his family wit...

Garebian is an India-born Canadian writer and educator. In the following review of Goodbye Harold, Good Luck, he praises Thomas as a keenly sensual writer.