About
Toby is best-known for writing his books – from Adventures in Capitalism to (so far) Patience – in alphabetical order (apart from the non-fiction ones); he is currently working on Q and R.
Toby’s story ‘The Retreat’ won the 2020 Short Fiction/ University of Essex Prize, his story ‘John & John’ came first in the semi-widely-known Manchester Fiction Prize, and his story ‘Call it “The Bug” Because I Have No Time To Think of a Better Title” 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 A Writer's Diary, published by Galley Beggar on New Year's Day 2023. It was previously serialised, day by day, on Substack. A Writer's Diary continues on Substack.
Wrestliana, Toby’s family memoir about being a man, fighting and losing, was published by Galley Beggar Press on May 1st 2018.
In May 2014, Toby’s first opera collaboration, Vastation (Nichtung), with music by Samy Moussa, was performed in Munich and Regensberg.
Also in 2014, Toby wrote a monthly comic – Dead Boy Detectives – based on characters from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. This was published by Vertigo. The Dead Boy Detectives 8-part TV series, based on Toby and Mark Buckingham’s 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’s 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.