Thomas Allen Munro Curnow  was a New Zealand poet and journalist. He is one of the major modern poets of New Zealand. Allen was born in Timaru on 17 June 1911, the second of three sons of Tremayne Monro Curnow, an Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Jessamine Towler Gambling. He was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School, Canterbury and Auckland university colleges, and St John's Theological College. 

In 1933 his first book of poems,Valley of Decision, was issued by Auckland University College’s Student’s Association Press. Though Curnow sat for theological examinations that year, in 1934 he decided against ordination. He published Three Poems in 1935. In 1986 Curnow was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and in 1989 he received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. He was appointed to the Order of New Zealand in 1990. He died on 23 September 2001 at the age of 90.