Colm Tóibín

Author profile

born

in Enniscorthy, Ireland

May 30, 1955

gender

male

website

http://www.colmtoibin.com/

About this author

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(From the authors website - http://www.colmtoibin.com/content/bio... )
"Colm Toibin was born in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford in 1955. He studied at University College Dublin and lived in Barcelona between 1975 and 1978. Out of his experience in Barcelona be produced two books, the novel ‘The South’ (shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and winner of the Irish Times/ Aer Lingus First Fiction Award) and ‘Homage to Barcelona’, both published in 1990. When he returned to Ireland in 1978 he worked as a journalist for ‘In Dublin’, ‘Hibernia’ and ‘The Sunday Tribune’, becoming features editor of ‘In Dublin’ in 1981 and editor of Magill, Ireland’s current affairs magazine, in 1982. He left Magill in 1985 and travelled in Africa and South Ame...more (From the authors website - http://www.colmtoibin.com/content/bio... )
"Colm Toibin was born in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford in 1955. He studied at University College Dublin and lived in Barcelona between 1975 and 1978. Out of his experience in Barcelona be produced two books, the novel ‘The South’ (shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and winner of the Irish Times/ Aer Lingus First Fiction Award) and ‘Homage to Barcelona’, both published in 1990. When he returned to Ireland in 1978 he worked as a journalist for ‘In Dublin’, ‘Hibernia’ and ‘The Sunday Tribune’, becoming features editor of ‘In Dublin’ in 1981 and editor of Magill, Ireland’s current affairs magazine, in 1982. He left Magill in 1985 and travelled in Africa and South America. His journalism from the 1980s was collected in ‘The Trial of the Generals’ (1990). His other work as a journalist and travel writer includes ‘Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border’ (1987) and ‘The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe’ (1994). His other novels are: ‘The Heather Blazing (1992, winner of the Encore Award); ‘The Story of the Night’ (1996, winner of the Ferro-Grumley Prize); ‘The Blackwater Lightship’ (1999, shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Prize and the Booker Prize and made into a film starring Angela Lansbury); ‘The Master’ (2004, winner of the Dublin IMPAC Prize; the Prix du Meilleur Livre; the LA Times Novel of the Year; and shortlisted for the Booker Prize); ‘Brooklyn’ (2009, winner of the Costa Novel of the Year). His short story collections are ‘Mothers and Sons’ (2006, winner of the Edge Hill Prize) and ‘The Empty Family (2010). His play ‘Beauty in a Broken Place’ was performed at the Peacock Theatre in Dublin in 2004. His other books include: ‘The Modern Library: the 200 Best Novels Since 1950’ (with Carmen Callil); ‘Lady Gregory’s Toothbrush’ (2002); ‘Love in a Dark Time: Gay Lives from Wilde to Almodovar’ (2002) and ‘All a Novelist Needs: Essays on Henry James’ (2010). He has edited ‘The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction’. His work has been translated into thirty languages. In 2008, a book of essays on his work ‘Reading Colm Toibin’, edited by Paul Delaney, was published. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Ulster and from University College Dublin. He is a regular contributor to the Dublin Review, the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books. In 2006 he was appointed to the Arts Council in Ireland. He has twice been Stein Visiting Writer at Stanford University and also been a visiting writer at the Michener Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University.

Colm Toibin’s collection of stories ‘The Empty Family’ will be published in the UK in October 2010 and in the US and Canada in January 2011. His collection of essays on Henry James, ‘All a Novelist Needs’ will be published in November 2010."(less)

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Colm Tóibín's Books

Average rating: 3.67 · 29,015 ratings · 4,648 reviews · 77 distinct works · Similar authors

	Brooklyn 3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 avg rating — 13,487 ratings — published 2009 — 44 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Master 3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 avg rating — 3,764 ratings — published 2003 — 40 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Blackwater Lightship 3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 avg rating — 1,685 ratings — published 1999 — 22 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Testament of Mary 3.58 of 5 stars 3.58 avg rating — 1,583 ratings — published 2012 — 15 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Empty Family 3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 avg rating — 885 ratings — published 2010 — 17 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Story of the Night 3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 avg rating — 738 ratings — published 1996 — 24 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mothers and Sons 3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 701 ratings — published 2006 — 25 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Heather Blazing 3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 avg rating — 500 ratings — published 1992 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The South 3.5 of 5 stars 3.50 avg rating — 262 ratings — published 1990 — 16 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Love in a Dark Time: And Other Explorations of Gay Lives and Literature 3.68 of 5 stars 3.68 avg rating — 152 ratings — published 2002 — 7 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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November 2012, Colm Tóibín
"His Favorite Novels About Religious Figures: A spiritual icon is reimagined in his new novel, The Testament of Mary, and in these recommended works of fiction." ...More

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Quotes by Colm Tóibín

“..Some of our loves and attachments are elemental and beyond our choosing, and for that very reason they come spiced with pain and regret and need and hollowness and a feeling as close to anger as I will ever be able to imagine. ”
― Colm Tóibín

24 people liked it

“As I settled down to sleep in that new bed in the dark city, I saw that it was too late now, too late for everything. I would not be given a second chance. In the hours when I woke, I have to tell you that this struck me almost with relief.”
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11 people liked it

“in skies of deepening blue
the moon, heaven's queen
was now afloat”
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8 people liked it

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Polls

January 2013 Group Read- HF that deals with immigration

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25 votes 13.2%

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24 votes 12.7%

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15 votes 7.9%

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7 votes 3.7%

Morgan's Run by Colleen McCullough

7 votes 3.7%

Trinity by Leon Uris

7 votes 3.7%

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7 votes 3.7%

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4 votes 2.1%

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4 votes 2.1%

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3 votes 1.6%

Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen

2 votes 1.1%

189 total votes

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Colm Tóibín

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combine editionsColm Tóibín's Books

Upcoming Events

Interviews

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Videos

combine editions
Colm Tóibín's Books