Q&A with author Steve Toltz
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Steve Toltz was born in Sydney in 1972. He has lived in Vancouver, Barcelona and Paris, and past jobs include stints as a telemarketer, security guard and English teacher. His first novel, A Fraction of the Whole, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008. He lives in New York with his wife and three-year-old son.
Who is your perfect reader?
All my perfect readers live in the other dimensions of the multiverse, and I’ll never know what they thought of my writing.
What is the last thing you read that made you laugh out loud?
Pornografia by Witold Gombrowicz.
What books are currently on your bedside table?
Bleeding Edge
by Thomas Pynchon and Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg.
Who would you choose to play you in a film about your life?
An animated cartoon sloth.
When were you happiest?
Anytime I leapt into the ocean.
Who would you most like to sit next to at a dinner party?
At the moment, Louis CK. Or Stewart Lee. Or the ghost of Christopher Hitchens. Otherwise, anyone with really short anecdotes.
When did you know you were going to be a writer?
When I considered the alternative.
Do you have a writing routine?
I write in two-hour blocks and try to squeeze as many two-hour blocks into a single day as possible.
Where do you write best?
In the northern hemisphere.
What is the best piece of advice a parent gave you?
Clean your room. (I took it metaphorically.)
Do you keep a diary?
I keep several. In drawers. They’re mostly blank though.
What music helps you write?
Oscar Peterson’s Night Train.
What book do you wish you’d written?
Journey to the End of the Night or Tropic of Cancer.
What does it mean to be a writer?
To be able to create something out of nothing. In your pyjamas.
‘Quicksand’ by Steve Toltz is published by Sceptre
Photograph: UPPA/Photoshot
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