Julian Gough was born in London, and raised in Ireland. While studying philosophy at university in Galway, he began singing with the underground, and very literary, rock band Toasted Heretic. They played London, Paris and New York, released four albums, and had a top ten hit in Ireland in 1991 with “Galway and Los Angeles”, a song about not kissing Sinead O’Connor.

His first novel, Juno & Juliet, was published in the UK and US in 2001. His short story The Orphan and the Mob won the BBC National Short Story Award (the biggest prize in the world for a single story), in 2007. His second novel, Jude: Level 1, was shortlisted for the 2008 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Award, alongside work by Alan Bennett, Garrison Keillor and Will Self.

He is probably best known for stealing Will Self’s pig.

His novels have been translated into German, Hebrew, Japanese, Dutch, Swedish, and Greek.

He now lives in Berlin.