Toby Litt is an English writer and academic in the Department of English and Humanities at

Birkbeck, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £10 ...

Life

Litt was born in

Ampthill Ampthill () is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Luton, with a population estimate of 8,100 (Mid year estimate 2017 from the ONS). It is administered bAmpthill Town Council The ward of Ampthill which also i ...

in 1968. He was educated at

Bedford Modern School Bedford Modern School (often called BMS) is a Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference independent school in Bedford, England. The school has its origins in The Harpur Trust, born from the endowments left by Sir William Harpur in the s ...

, read English at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms ...

and studied Creative Writing at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

where he was taught by

Malcolm Bradbury Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury, (7 September 1932 – 27 November 2000) was an English author and academic. Life Bradbury was born in Sheffield, the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 with ...

. A short story by Toby Litt was included in the anthology ''All Hail the New Puritans'' (2000), edited by Matt Thorne and Nicholas Blincoe, and he has edited ''

The Outcry ''The Outcry'' is a novel by Henry James published in 1911. It was originally conceived as a play. James cast the material in a three-act drama in 1909, but like many of his plays, it failed to be produced. (There were two posthumous performances ...

'' (2001),

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was th ...

's last completed novel, for Penguin in the UK. In 2003 he was nominated by Granta magazine as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists', although his work since then has met with mixed reviews, one reviewer in the Guardian writing that his novel ''I Play the Drums in a Band Called Okay'' "goes on ... and on, and on. There is plenty of story here, but little plot, and no tension." He edited the 13th edition of ''New Writing'' (the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh la ...

's annual anthology of the finest contemporary writing in fiction, non-fiction and poetry) and is known for naming his books in alphabetical order. Litt wrote an interactive short story, using

LiveJournal LiveJournal (russian: Живой Журнал), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, ...

and Twitter, as part of the

Penguin Penguins ( order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

'' We Tell Stories'' project. He is currently a lecturer in Creative Writing at

Birkbeck, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £10 ...

and led the campaign to get Arvind Mehrotra elected to the Oxford Professor of Poetry following Ruth Padel's resignation. In 2011, he took part in the

Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. The Bush Theatre strives to create a sp ...

's ''

Sixty Six Books ''Sixty-Six Books'' was a set of plays premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2011, to mark the theatre's reopening on a new site and the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. It drew its title from the 66 books of the Protestant Bible ...

'' project where he wrote a piece based upon a book of the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

Bibliography

Fiction

* ''Adventures in Capitalism'' (collection of short stories, 1996, ) * '' Beatniks'' (1997, ) * '' Corpsing'' (2000, ) * ''

deadkidsongs {{Infobox book , , name = deadkidsongs , title_orig = , translator = , image = Deadkidsongs.jpg , caption = First edition , author = Toby Litt , cover_artist = , country = United Kingdom , language ...

'' (2001, ) * ''Exhibitionism'' (collection of short stories, 2002, ) * ''

Finding Myself {{Infobox book, , name = Finding myself , title_orig = , translator = , image = Finding Myself.jpg , caption = First edition , author = Toby Litt , cover_artist = , country = United Kingdom , language ...

'' (2003, ) * ''Ghost Story'' (2004, ) * '' Hospital'', (2007, ) * ''I Play the Drums in a Band Called Okay'' (2008, ) * '' Journey into Space'' (2009, ) * ''King Death'' (2010, ) * ''Lilian's Spell Book'' (2013, ) * ''Life-Like'' (2014, ) * ''Monster'' (in ''The Book of Other People'', ed.

Zadie Smith Zadie Smith FRSL (born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor ...

, 2007) * ''Notes For A Young Gentleman'' (2018, ) * ''O (short stories - exists)'' * ''Patience'' (2019, )

Comic books

* '' Dead Boy Detectives'' (2014)

Non-fiction

*''Wrestliana'' (2018, )

References

External links

*
MySpace: Toby Litt

* * Birkbeck, School of English & Humanitie
Department of English, Theatre and Creative Writing — Birkbeck, University of London
{{DEFAULTSORT:Litt, Toby 1968 births Living people People educated at Bedford Modern School Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Alumni of the University of East Anglia Academics of Birkbeck, University of London 21st-century English novelists English short story writers People from Bedford People from Ampthill English male short story writers English male novelists 21st-century British short story writers 21st-century English male writers