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Toby Litt

Toby Litt

Toby has worked as a teacher, bookseller and subtitler. A graduate of Malcolm Bradbury’s creative writing course at the University of East Anglia, he is the author of two books of short stories, Adventures in Capitalism and Exhibitionism, and nine novels; most recently Life-Like. He won the Manchester Fiction Prize 2009 with his story ‘John and John’. He teaches at Birkbeck College.

7 min read

There was this boy I met at a party, years back

* Story contains bad language

and I really don’t know if I should be telling you this, because you might even meet him around here somewhere or – even worse – try to find him and use him....

16 min read

Paddy & Veronika

* Story contains bad language

From the Czech Republic, her name was Veronika Markova, twenty-two years old, and she was sitting on their sofa, with Max on her lap, although the interview...

17 min read

Kavita & Dr Mehrotra

She might have saved money by opting for the usual Bombay taxi: cramped, fumy, with no air-conditioning and a few gods on the dashboard. Instead, Kavita...

11 min read

Auto-Suggestion

* Story contains bad language

I began to think, for no particular reason, about what the exact series of events would be were I to die at that moment – before, even, my coffee went cold.

14 min read

The Meme

Was it just because Keith’s upper arms wobbled as he shouted and fell; because he was – let’s face it – fat? Was that why ours rather than a billion other...

11 min read

So Long, Whale Bum

* Story contains bad language

To give you some idea how seriously I took it, that’s what I called my first solo album.The public, if such a noble beast still exists, agreed with my low...

2 min read

Notes for a Young Gentleman

A gentleman should greet with genuine warmth only the following persons – his sister’s daughters, his maternal aunts and his mortal enemies.