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

Tobias Hill was born in Kentish Town, 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 literatures leading publisher-in-exile during the Second World War [1]. Hill was educated at Hampstead School, a comprehensive institution, and Sussex University. He lives in Cricklewood, north London.

Hill first came to attention in the 1990s as a poet and author of short stories, with early work appearing in magazines such as The Frogmore Papers: he has since become established as a novelist. As a poet Hill has 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. [2]

Hills only collection of short stories, Skin (1997), was serialized 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.



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