Paul Tosio: Author, Psychologist and Educational Specialist

Brief Professional Background. Paul is an Oxford Qualified Psychologist, writer, performer and renowned specialist in education. He has worked with hundreds of top schools around the world, including Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy. His study techniques have reached millions. Paul has worked in theatre for years as an actor, director and writer, and plays he has written and co-written have been performed in the UK and South Africa. His first co-written film script was optioned barely a year after completion. Paul recently finished his first solo novel, one of four books he has now written, with Curtis Brown Creative.

Paul and his writing partner, Barbara Whitfield, write together under the name Mollie Furst (www.molliefurst.com) and are represented by Lisa Highton of Jenny Brown Associates (www.jennybrownassociates.com).

A panorama from Paul’s home above ‘False Bay’ (the title of his first novel).

If you’d like more personal insight into Paul, and some of his photographs, continue viewing.

A cyclist travels between windmills, on Sicily’s Salt Flats. Taken whilst with writing partner Barbara Whitfield.

More About Paul As a Person. Paul Tosio (an Italian-Swiss surname pronounced “Toe-zee-oh”) currently lives on the magnificent shores of Cape Town’s ‘False Bay’ where he is owned by two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Gangile and Ubuntu (Gangile means ‘Naughty’, whilst Ubuntu roughly means ‘I am because we are’). Paul is passionate about a wide range of subjects – including literature, nature and (most of the time) people. Much of his leisure time is enjoyed hiking with his dogs while he hunts down rare plants on any number of his chosen city’s 130+ mountain peaks. When not doing this, he is often to be found in the kitchen, and frequently cooks enough to feed a medium-sized country. Paul is an avid amateur photographer, having been a finalist in and winning several photographic competitions. He is prone to bombarding friends and family with landscape and nature photographs.

Paul (centre) with Gangile on his right shoulder and Ubuntu on his left.

Brief Academic Background: Paul holds degrees in English Literature, Drama and Psychology (Rhodes and Oxford) during which time he was awarded numerous academic honours. Aside from the 25 years he has spent training advanced academic skills around the world, he has tutored extensively and acted as academic editor for various Master’s and PhD projects. He is an Oxford Qualified Psychologist.

View from Paul’s bedroom window at New College, Oxford

Brief Writing Background: When a hapless Mrs Pocock decided to employ a star chart as a means of incentivizing her 5th grade students to read more, she had not anticipated Paul reading up to three books daily and out-reading the rest of his class combined. The effect of this was to encourage him, and almost certainly discourage everyone else. Such was his love of reading. Earlier than this, and as regards writing, “If I wauz a King” (stet, as yet unpublished) was arguably his debut work, completed at age 5. Shortly after this his first non-fiction book, titled Fishy Business (on keeping Marine Aquaria), followed. 

More seriously, Paul wrote plays throughout high school and University and received personal invitations from departmental heads to pursue higher degrees in both Drama and English. Reza de Wet Reardon, South Africa's most awarded playwright in her lifetime, acted as supervisor for his first Master's Degree. Paul completed his first full length work of fiction During Curtis Brown’s selective course in writing a novel. Titled False Bay, this work of literary fiction is one of four books Paul has now completed. A founding member of Oxford University’s Playwriting and Dramaturgy Society, stage plays Paul has written and co-written (including Reading Descartes and Hitched) have been performed in Cape Town and the UK. His first film script, titled One Small Step (which he co-wrote with his brilliant writing partner, Barbara Whitfield) was optioned by Stanley Road Productions.

Brief Theatre Background: Paul has worked as an actor in both the UK and South Africa, receiving such plaudits as being described as “Worth the price of admission alone”. He hastens to add that the ticket in question was rather reasonable – but is pleased to know he’s at least as valuable as two pints of lager and a packet of crisps. He has directed and performed in works both classic (As You Like It, Macbeth, The Importance of Being Earnest etc.), musical (e.g. Elegies for Angels Punks and Raging Queens) and contemporary- including originating the title role in Tim Benjamin’s Opera The Corley Conspiracy on London’s South Bank.

Work as a learning specialist: Paul is an internationally respected expert in learning techniques, and a sought after speaker on this topic. In this capacity, he travels extensively. He has worked with around four hundred schools around the world, in countries from A(merica) to Z(imbabwe). These include places as varied as Swaziland and Switzerland, Brazil and Botswana, the UAE and the UK. His contributions to the field of effective learning -especially regards visual memory, emotional regulation and speed reading- have been heard and read by millions across print and broadcast media. During the Pandemic he completed Jackass to Genius, a lighthearted educational book (as yet unpublished) detailing his study techniques.

Students in the Gandaki Valley, Nepal. Machapuchare (‘Fishtail’) and Annapurna in background. Taken by Paul in 2023.

Novels: 

False Bay. Following the loss of her partner in the waters of False Bay, Ashling Devlin forges a relationship with his best friend Liam. Together they negotiate their loss. This work of literary fiction examines anxiety and privilege (both national and personal), within an accessible story. 

The Unbearable Likeness of Being. When both a painting and a girl go missing in Oxford, Art History Don Thalia Wainscott is unexpectedly dragged into solving crime.  The first in ‘The Eccentrics’ Cosy Crime series, co-written with Barbara Whitfield.

Someone Unknown (Is Doing We Don’t Know What). Dr Thalia Wainscott is again called in to solve an inexplicable Oxford mystery after a fellow Academic witnesses a body falling UP Magdalen Tower. The second in ‘The Eccentrics’ Cosy Crime series, co-written with Barbara Whitfield.

Non Fiction / Educational

Jackass to Genius. A lighthearted “academic biography-cum ‘DIY’ book”. It teaches the reader to enhance memory, read more efficiently, and enhance their academic performance.

Stage Plays:

Reading Descartes. In search of personal meaning, undergraduate Charlotte makes some foolish decisions that compromise her relationships. 

Hitched. One year after marrying Nick, a not so happily married Iris discovers that the ceremony was not legally binding. How, or even if, to tell Nick this fact forces Iris to consider what she really wants from life and marriage. Co-written with Barbara Whitfield.

Last Christmas. Eight people are trapped in a snowed-in French Chateau in this Christmas farce of misunderstanding and mayhem. Midway through the play, it turns into a double murder mystery. Co-written with Barbara Whitfield.

Gangile and Ubuntu on Noordhoek Peak, Cape Town.

Screenplays: 

One Small Step. In 1969 South Africa, a broken family are on a road-trip to the moon.  Stealing a Hillman Estate they set off to watch the televised moon-landing in Rhodesia. Co-written with Barbara Whitfield.

Bad Guest (World’s Best Host? Meet the World’s Worst Guest). Steve puts the welcome in his hometown of ‘Welcome, New Hampshire’. But even his legendary hospitality is stretched when creme de la creme of entitlement Carolyn Monroe comes to stay. Co-written with Barbara Whitfield.

“Fire and Ice”. The Cathedral Spur, Drakensberg (South Africa) with Aloes in foreground. Taken on 27/07/2011.

Sample of Works Currently in Progress :

Chronicles of Doomsday. What if fiction became Prophecy? Bestselling author Etienne Doman confronts this question when exact events in his post-apocalyptic book series come true. He becomes an unlikely religious figure faced with a dilemma: Faithfully record the horrors his muse dictates? Or try give a shattered world some hope?

Modjaji: Legend of the Rain Queen. Follows the life of the first ‘Rain Queen’ who is announced by prophecy to save the imperiled iron-age Kingdom of Mapungubwe. To do so she is called from Africa across the Ocean, to medieval Europe and Asia. Inspired by both the myth and ancient history of the Venda peoples. 

In Search of the Trojan Whores. Doctor Thalia Wainscott is once more solving crime, as she and her fellow Eccentrics uncover a prostitution ring in the City of Dreaming Spires. The third in ‘The Eccentrics’ Cosy Crime series, co-written with Barbara Whitfield.

Bartholina burmanniana, Spider Orchid

Noman’s Land: This TV series follows the adventures of ‘Noman’, born in the indeterminate border between countries that do and don’t exist (think the border of Canada and Peru, or between the Unified States of Mexerica and New Spain). Resident of neither country, but adopted by border guards from both, he becomes a patrolman who has a knack for helping others when they’re in trouble. Finally, a chance encounter with a stranger causes him to delve into the mystery of his own past. Co-written with Barbara Whitfield.

Rosaline: Hell Hath No Fury.  This radio play imagines some alternative mechanics at play in the tragedy which befalls the greatest Romance ever written. Before there was Juliet, after all, Romeo only had eyes for ‘Rosaline’. Co-written with Barbara Whitfield.

Gladiolus maculatus (which began blooming near his home this week)