Alex Christofi is a British author and book editor.
Early life
Christofi was born in
Dorset to a British mother and
Greek Cypriots father, and grew up in
Bournemouth.
He was educated at Bournemouth School, where his father was a teacher.
He earned a degree in English from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.
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.
For
Glass, he won the 2016 Betty Trask Prize.
In 2017, he published his second novel,
Let Us Be True, about a German-born couple falling in love in post-war France.
His biography
Dostoevsky in Love: An Intimate Life was shortlisted for the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize.
In 2015, Christofi was appointed commissioning editor for non-fiction at Oneworld, previously working for Conville and Walsh.
"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.
He later wrote an editorial for
The Guardian entitled "I am the 'book murderer', but I tear them apart out of love."
Personal life
Christofi currently lives in London.
Published works
-
Glass (2015)
-
Let Us Be True (2017)
-
Dostoevsky in Love (2021)
