In the late 1980s, Lott briefly worked as the editor of
City Limits, a magazine based in London. Lott was a TV producer and a Sunday magazine featured writer. In 1996, Lott's first book, a memoir,
The Scent of Dried Roses, was published and won the
PEN/Ackerley Prize for autobiography. It is now published as a Penguin Modern Classic. His next work, and first novel,
White City Blue, was published in 1999 and won that year's
Whitbread Award for Best First Novel. He was shortlisted in the Best Novel category of the
2002 Whitbread Awards and the Encore Awards for best second novel for his work
Rumours of a Hurricane. He has since published
The Love Secrets of Don Juan,
The Seymour Tapes and
Fearless, a young adult novel for Walker Books, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction prize. He has also featured prominently in the literary magazine
Granta, appearing in its 21st anniversary edition as having authored one of the most significant pieces published in the previous 21 years. His most recent book is
When We Were Rich (Scribner). His authored documentary on the class system,
The New Middle Classes, was broadcast on
BBC Four in 2008. He is a prolific travel journalist, and an occasional op-ed writer for the
Independent on Sunday. He teaches the Writing a Novel six-month course at the
Faber Academy in London. == Personal life ==