Oliver Mol is the author of LION ATTACK! (Scribe Publications, 2015) and TRAIN LORD (Penguin Michael Joseph, 2022), which was a Guardian, Australian Book Review and Sydney Morning Herald book of the year.

He is a contributing editor at Apartamento Magazine and was a 2022 Marten Bequest Scholar for Prose through the Australian Council for the Arts. He was the winner of the inaugural Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers, and his writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Apartamento Magazine, Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC and other outlets. He grew up in Australia, and currently lives in Paris.

TRAIN LORD is available to buy from,

Penguin UK

Penguin Australia

Penguin Random House Canada

along with Kindle, Audible and selected bookshops in the UK, France & Australia.

Featured in,

Sydney Morning Herald, Best Reads of the Year

Australian Book Review, 2022 Books of the Year

The Guardian, Best Australian Books of 2022

‘Tender, vital and quietly hopeful: a tale of remaking … As much about the art, craft and alchemy of storytelling as it is about healing. A beautiful book’  The Guardian

‘An intimate preservation of a moment in time, full of personality’ The Times

‘From the opening page of this compelling work, we are carried on by a humour and vitality that reads as courage’ The Conversation

‘Beautifully captures the complexities of illness and of coming to terms with life as an adult’ The Saturday Paper

‘Oliver Mol isn’t your regular word wrestler. On Train Lord he deconstructs a quarter-life memoir into a tour de Panadeine Forte of pain management via the orange line of Sydney’s tangled train network. All stations too, including stop-offs at ket deals, post alt-lit wastelands and yoga romance, as well as hurling towards that beautiful empowered employment. Doesn’t make sense? Life doesn’t aye’ Brown Cardigan


‘Oliver Mol: King of a New Jungle’ Rolling Stone


‘A work of elemental force.’ Amanda Lohrey

‘Train Lord is an exquisite interrogation of not only illness, suffering and sudden loss, but also of empathy, love, hope, survival and connection. It is a beautifully written, powerfully rendered, astutely observed and unbearably wise exploration of the human condition — of who we truly are, of what happens when our core identity is threatened and how far we are capable of pushing ourselves to get it back. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to get it into the hands of every single person I know. An absolutely extraordinary achievement.’ Lucia Osborne-Crowley

‘Oliver Mol’s account of how he survived the living hell of a ten-month migraine — and how he taught himself to live again afterwards — is an unmissable reading experience. By turns devastating, hilarious and soaringly hopeful, it both wrecked and renewed me. A real book by a real writer.’ Matt Rowland Hill

‘This is a profoundly moving work by a stellar writer.’ Michael Winkler

‘A testament to the transformative power of art in times of trouble.’ Luke Carman

‘Train Lord is a stunning, remarkable piece of writing. The pages shake and bleed’ Robbie Arnott

‘Train Lord is a glorious, rare reading experience … an unmissable book’ Katherine Brabon

‘We write to understand humanness and Oliver Mol achieves it with exceptional honesty and gripping emotionalism. This book is special’ Ennis Cehic

‘A book that speaks to anyone who’s gone to the darker side of life and still come out alive’ Paul Dalla Rosa

‘Train Lord is the book I’ve been waiting for all these years’ John Connell

TRAIN LORD STAGE SHOW

AT EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL 2023.

WINNER OF A BEST THEATRE AWARD - 2020 ADELAIDE FRINGE

SOLD-OUT SEASON 2020 SYDNEY FRINGE

ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK TRAIN LORD, PUBLISHED BY PENGUIN MICHAEL JOSEPH: A GUARDIAN, AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW AND SYDNEY MORNING HERALD BOOK OF THE YEAR

Award-winning author Oliver Mol's debut is a true, funny and heartbreaking tale about a 10-month migraine, his recovery in Brisbane and job on the railway when he couldn't do anything else. Performed to music by Thomas Gray & Liam Ebbs, Seekae and Nils Frahm amongst others, and to visuals by Kat Chellos, it is a story of hope, laughter, pain, relationships, drugs, failed orgies, mothers, fathers and love.

Part monologue, part performance art and part essay, Train Lord collapses genre and form to create a stunning portrait of pain, creativity and failure. Achingly authentic, funny and poignant, this is a breathtakingly honest study of humanity from one of Australia’s most exciting emerging writers.

Ultimately, this is a story about fucking up and figuring it out and fucking up and finding out you're not alone.

★★★★★ ‘Oliver performed in the green room after our gig in Barcelona. Wild and special. ‘

Clarence McGuffie, Confidence Man

★★★★ ‘Sydney author Oliver Mol delivers his autobiographical monologue with such clarity and heart ... best just go.’

Louise Nunn, The Advertiser

★★★★ ‘Saturated in emotional truth and unapologetically low-fi, Train Lord is testament to the powerful potential of Fringe shows that hark back to the no-frills days of the festival’s past.’

Farrin Foster, In Daily

★★★★’ Train Lord is an honest look into the circumstances surrounding us and how these can change suddenly to affect our lives’

Marianna Meloni, Everything Theatre