Thirlwell was educated at the independent Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Elstree. He read English at New College, Oxford, where he got the top first.[3] He was a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford between 2000 and 2007, and worked as assistant editor at the literary magazine Areté. He now lives in London. In 2011 he was the S Fischer Guest Professor of Comparative Literature at the Freie Universität Berlin.[4] In 2015 he was announced as an Honorary Fellow of the Metaphysical Club at the Domus Academy in Milan.[5]
Work
Thirlwell is the author of four novels: Politics (2003),[6]The Escape (2009)[7] described by Milan Kundera as "a novel where the humour is melancholic, the melancholy mischievous, and the talent startling",[8]Lurid & Cute (2015).[9] and The Future Future (2023).[10]
An experimental book with unfolding pages called Kapow!, designed by Studio Frith, was published by Visual Editions in 2012.[14] It was nominated for the Design Museum's 2013 Designs of the Year awards[15] and has been included in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.[16] A book with the artist Philippe Parreno, Conversation, was published by Serralves Museum in 2017.[17]
Thirlwell wrote a short film, Everyday Performance Artists, for Channel 4's Random Acts, directed by Polly Stenham and starring the voice of Shia LaBeouf, with Gemma Chan, James Norton, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, in 2016.[18] In 2018, he wrote and directed Utopia, starring Lily Cole, Lily McMenamy and Babirye Bukilwa.[19]