As well as working as Publishing Director at Transworld Publishers, I write occasional essays, reviews and other short pieces, which have been published in the Guardian, New Humanist, Prospect, New European and The London Magazine.
My books are published in thirteen languages. I have published two novels, Glass and Let Us Be True. The former was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and won the Betty Trask Prize. My first non-fiction book, Dostoevsky in Love, an intimate biography of the writer and his relationships, was selected as a Times and Sunday Times literary non-fiction book of the year and shortlisted for the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize. My most recent book, Cypria: A journey to the heart of the Mediterranean, was shortlisted for the London Hellenic Prize and the Anglo-Hellenic League’s Runciman Award.
I live in south London.
Find me on Bluesky @christofi.bsky.social
‘From ancient myth to modern militarism, a brilliant exploration of Cyprus’s long history… In this superbly composed book, Cyprus’s tastes and the smells are always intensely present, as are the island’s innumerable and majestic cats.’
– Steven Poole, Guardian, on Cypria
‘Unpredictable, dangerous and thrilling… It is no mean feat to boil Dostoevsky’s epic life down to 256 pulse-thumping pages. Dostoevsky in Love is beautifully crafted and realised, but it is the great love that Christofi feels for his subject that makes this such a moving book.’
– Frances Wilson, Guardian, on Dostoevsky in Love
‘Christofi belongs to the school of Julian Barnes … He has an acute sense of narrative and stylistic decorum. Nothing outrageous or soppy: emotions derive from the quiet, understated accumulation of events. Let Us Be True is only Christofi’s second novel. It’s tender and sensitively written with a powerful feeling for the passage of time.’
– James Marriott, The Times, on Let Us Be True
Alex Christofi 