Alex Christofi

Alex Christofi is a British author and book editor.

Early life

Christofi was born in Dorset to a British mother and Cypriot father, and grew up in Bournemouth.[1] He was educated at Bournemouth School, where his father was a teacher.[2]

He earned a degree in English from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.[1][3]

Career

Before publishing his first novel, Christofi worked as a literary agent for over five years. In 2015, he published his debut novel Glass. It tells the story of Gunter Glass, a 22-year-old, half-German window cleaner.[1] For Glass, he won the 2016 Betty Trask Prize.[4] In 2017, he published his second novel, Let Us Be True, about a German-born couple falling in love in post-war France.[5] His biography Dostoevsky in Love: An Intimate Life was shortlisted for the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize.[6]

In 2015, Christofi was appointed commissioning editor for non-fiction at Oneworld, previously working for Conville and Walsh.[7] In February 2020, it was announced he would be leaving Oneworld to join Transworld Publishers's non-fiction team as an editorial director in April of that year.[8]

"Book Murderer" Viral Controversy

In early 2020, Christofi tweeted a photograph of several books cut in half, saying he cuts "long books in half to make them more portable." The tweet subsequently went viral, becoming the subject of several news stories and caused a large amount of conversation on Twitter.[9][10] He later wrote an editorial for The Guardian entitled "I am the 'book murderer', but I tear them apart out of love."[11]

Personal life

Christofi currently lives in London.[12]

Published works
  • Glass (2015)[13]
  • Let Us Be True (2017)[14]
  • Dostoevsky in Love (2021)[15]

References
  1. O'Kelly, Lisa; Hoggard, Liz; Jones, Corinne; Bromwich, Kathryn; Kellaway, Kate; Clark, Alex; Scholes, Lucy (11 January 2015). "New faces of fiction 2015". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  2. Westhead, Ian (16 October 2019). "2019 Guest Speaker". oldbournemouthians.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  3. "LMH News – Issue 1 2018". Issuu. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  4. Cowdrey, Katherine (22 June 2016). "Christofi debut wins £10k Betty Trask Prize | The Bookseller". The Bookseller. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  5. Thomas, Carys (19 August 2017). "It's the Weekend: Book reviews". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  6. "Atkins, Ypi and Christofi compete for Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  7. Onwuemezi, Natasha (16 September 2015). "Oneworld appoints Christofi as commissioning editor | The Bookseller". The Bookseller. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  8. Leslie, Florence (18 February 2020). "Christofi trades Oneworld for Transworld | The Bookseller". The Bookseller. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  9. Rosenblatt, Kahlan. "Tweet about cutting books in half sends Twitter into tailspin". NBC News.
  10. Schaub, Michael. "'Book Murderer' Leaves Literary Twitter Aghast". Kirkus Reviews.
  11. Christofi, Alex. "I am the 'book murderer', but I tear them apart out of love". The Guardian.
  12. Fishwick, Samuel (16 July 2015). "Meet the debutants: hot summer reads by new novelists". Evening Standard. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  13. Ashworth, Jenn (9 May 2015). "Glass by Alex Christofi review – a comic look at how to live". The Guardian.
  14. Marriott, James (12 August 2017). "Review: Let Us Be True by Alex Christofi". The Times.
  15. Wilson, Frances (2021-01-14). "Dostoevsky in Love by Alex Christofi review – unpredictable, dangerous and thrilling". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
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