Tilly grew up above a tea room in East London where her grandmother baked the cakes. After attending a local private school in its infancy The Lyceum on Paul Street, Tilly went to one of the best schools in the country North London Collegiate School in Edgware.
Though wanting to study psychology, on the counsel of her favourite teacher Mr. James-Williams Tilly applied to Oxford University to study English. Tilly graduated from Oxford University with a 2:1 in English Language and Literature. Her dissertation was called “Self-experience is an Ambiguous Onion: the rehabilitation of ‘foreignness’ into self-expression (Afterglow by Eileen Myles: a how-to, and Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner: a how-to-take-it-too-far.)”
Tilly joined Mulcahy Sweeney Literary Agency as an Associate Literary Agent in 2019. Three years later she became Associate Editor. She works in and out of the agency.
Tilly is in her element working with literary fiction and/or autobiography – but works widely.
She responds well to any writing with notes of confession (Chris Kraus I Love Dick), eroticism (most of the works by Haruki Murakami, Your Driver is Waiting by Priya Guns), astute psychology (Eve Sedgewick A dialogue on love), chatty philosophy (Milan Kundera), a bit of fantasy (Murakami again) and super tight revelations about contemporary life (For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy by Ryan Calais Cameron–which admittedly isn’t a novel but needs mention because it’s the best thing she’s encountered this century.) Tilly also likes it when writing is wrapped up in intriguing paratexts (Osamu Dazai No Longer Human and Herman Hesse Steppenwolf) because she thinks novels need good reason to exist.
Get in touch if you think your work will resonate: tillyeditor@icloud.com
Tilly is a powerful and instinctive editor.