Tobias Hill

Tobias Hill (born 30 March 1970 in London, England) is an award-winning British poet, essayist, writer of short stories and novelist.

Tobias Hill was born in Kentish Town, in North London, to parents of German Jewish and English extraction: his maternal grandfather was the brother of Gottfried Bermann, confidant of Thomas Mann and, as owner of S. Fischer Verlag, German literature's leading publisher-in-exile during the Second World War. Hill's father was a journalist and his mother was a graphic designer. Hill was educated at Hampstead School and Sussex University before spending two years teaching in Japan. He lives in Cricklewood, north London.

Hill's early work appeared in magazines such as Envoi and The Frogmore Papers and published four collections,Year of the Dog (1995), Midnight in the City of Clocks (1996) (influenced by his experience of life in Japan) Zoo (1998) and Nocturne in Chrome & Sunset Yellow (2006). The last of these was described by The Guardian as "A vital, luminous collection... it is rare to come across a collection of poetry that you know with certainty you will still be reading years from now, but for me, this is such a book." Hill's collection of short stories, Skin (1997), was serialised on BBC Radio 4, was shortlisted for the 1998 John Llewellyn Rhys/Mail on Sunday Prize, and won the International PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award.

In 1999, Hill published his debut novel, Underground. Set on the London Underground, this dark, neo-gothic work follows the story of Casimir, a Polish immigrant, as he comes to terms with his personal and national past. Underground won the Betty Trask Prize and the Arts Council Writer's Award.

The Love of Stones (2001), Hill's second novel, garnered wider recognition: it charts the lives of two nineteenth century Jewish brothers and a contemporary protagonist, Katharine Sterne, whose stories are entwined with that of a long-lost jewel, known as "The Three Brothers", once owned by Elizabeth I.

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