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Mr Toby Litt

Associate Professor in Creative Writing

Research interests

  • Contemporary Writing as Environmental Activism
  • Autofiction, experimental memoir, creative non-fiction
  • Short stories

More research

Accepting applications from PhD students.

Connect with Toby

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Research interests (for researchers only) 
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In , select 鈥楨dit profile鈥. Under the heading 'Curriculum and research description', select 'Add profile information'. In the dropdown menu, select 'Research interests: use separate lines'.

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Accepting PhD applicants (for researchers only) 
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About

Toby is best-known for writing his books 鈥 from Adventures in Capitalism to (so far) Patience 鈥 in alphabetical order (apart from the non-fiction ones); he is currently working on Q and R.

Toby鈥檚 story 鈥楾he Retreat鈥 won the 2020 Short Fiction/ University of Essex Prize, his story 鈥楯ohn & John鈥 came first in the semi-widely-known Manchester Fiction Prize, and his story 鈥楥all it 鈥淭he Bug鈥 Because I Have No Time To Think of a Better Title鈥 was shortlisted for the notoriously lucrative Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award.

His novel, Patience, was published by Galley Beggar Press in September 2019. It was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize.

His latest book is , published by Galley Beggar on New Year's Day 2023. It was previously serialised, day by day, on Substack. A Writer's Diary .

Wrestliana, Toby鈥檚 family memoir about being a man, fighting and losing, was published by Galley Beggar Press on May 1st 2018.

In May 2014, Toby鈥檚 first opera collaboration, Vastation (Nichtung), with music by Samy Moussa, was performed in Munich and Regensberg.

Also in 2014, Toby wrote a monthly comic 鈥 Dead Boy Detectives 鈥 based on characters from Neil Gaiman鈥檚 Sandman. This was published by Vertigo. The Dead Boy Detectives 8-part TV series, based on Toby and Mark Buckingham鈥檚 run on the comic, and featuring their character Crystal Palace, is forthcoming on Netflix.

In 2017, Vertigo issued the trade paperback edition of Free Country: A Tale from the Children鈥檚 Crusade. This was a completion by Toby of a Neil Gaiman graphic novel.

Toby writes songs and song cycles (Befalling, Life Cycle, Rest) with Emily Hall. The scores of these are available from her shop.

You can update this in . Select 鈥楨dit profile鈥. Under the heading and then 鈥楥urriculum and research description鈥, select 鈥楢dd profile information鈥. In the dropdown menu, select - 鈥楢bout鈥.

Write about yourself in the third person. Aim for 100 to 150 words covering the main points about who you are and what you currently do. Clear, simple language is best. You can include specialist or technical terms.

You鈥檒l be able to add details about your research, publications, career and academic history to other sections of your staff profile.