Steve Toltz (born 1972 in Sydney) is an Australian novelist.

Works

A Fraction of the Whole ''Fraction of the Whole'' is a 2008 novel by Steve Toltz. It follows three generations of the eccentric Dean family in Australia and the people who surround them. Characters Jasper Dean Jasper Dean is Martin Dean's illegitimate son and Terry D ...

'', his first novel, was released in 2008 to widespread critical acclaim. It is a comic novel which tells the history of a family of Australian outcasts. The narration of the novel alternates between Jasper Dean, a philosophical, idealistic boy, who grows up throughout the novel and his father, Martin Dean, a philosopher and shut-in described at the start of the novel as "the most hated man in all of Australia". This is in contrast with Terry Dean, Jasper's uncle, whom Jasper describes as "the most beloved man in all of Australia". The novel spans the entirety of Martin's life and several years after (a range never specified in the text, but starting after World War II and ending in the early 2000s), and is set in Australia, Paris, and Thailand. The novel has repeatedly been compared favourably to

John Kennedy Toole John Kennedy Toole (; December 17, 1937 – March 26, 1969) was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana whose posthumously published novel, '' A Confederacy of Dunces'', won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981; he also wrote ''The N ...

's Pulitzer Prize winning novel ''

A Confederacy of Dunces ''A Confederacy of Dunces'' is a picaresque novel by American novelist John Kennedy Toole which reached publication in 1980, eleven years after Toole's death. Published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a foreword) ...

''. ''A Fraction of the Whole'' was shortlisted for the 2008

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

and the 2008

Guardian First Book Award The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspap ...

. His second novel, ''Quicksand'', published in 2015, won the

Russell Prize The Russell Prize (Russell Prize for Humour Writing) is an Australian literary prize awarded every second year by the State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a ...

, while his third, ''Here Goes Nothing'', was longlisted for the 2022

Nib Literary Award The Nib Literary Award, established in 2002 at the suggestion of actor and producer Chris Haywood, the Patron of the Friends of Waverley Library, as The Nib Waverley Library Award for Literature and since 2017 known as Mark and Evette Moran Nib A ...

Bibliography

* ''

'' (2008) * ''Quicksand'' (2015) * ''Here Goes Nothing'' (2022)

Personal life

Toltz attended

Killara High School , motto_translation = The preservation of the best of the past and continued development into the future , slogan = A great school close to home , established = 1968 , principal = Robin Chand , teaching_staff = ~110 , type = Public, co-edu ...

and graduated from the University of Newcastle,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, in 1994. Prior to his literary career, he lived in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

, and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, variously working as a cameraman, telemarketer, security guard, private investigator, English teacher, and screenwriter. Toltz married French-Australian artist and painter Marie Peter-Toltz in 2005. They have one son born in 2012.

References

External links

Steve Toltz Official WebsiteBookbrowse BiographyA Fraction of the Whole and Quicksand – Reviews and review links
Writers from Sydney Living people 1972 births Australian male novelists {{Australia-writer-stub