Colm Tóibín facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Colm Tóibín
FRSL
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Tóibín in 2006
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| Chancellor of the University of Liverpool | |
| In office 2 February 2017 – 2022 |
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| Succeeded by | Wendy Beetlestone |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 May 1955 Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland |
| Alma mater | UCD |
| Occupation |
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| Writing career | |
| Language | English (Hiberno-English) |
| Genre | Essay, Novel, Short Story, Play, Poem |
| Subject | Irish society, living abroad, creativity, personal identity |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards | Encore Award 1993 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction 2004 International Dublin Literary Award 2006 Irish PEN Award 2011 Hawthornden Prize 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award in Irish Literature 2019 David Cohen Prize 2021 Folio Prize 2022 |
Colm Tóibín (born 30 May 1955) is an Irish writer. He writes novels, short stories, essays, and poems. He is also a journalist and critic.
His first novel, The South, came out in 1990. Several of his books have won major awards. The Blackwater Lightship and The Master were both nominated for the Booker Prize. The Master won the 2006 International Dublin Literary Award. This award is one of the biggest literary prizes in the world.
His novel Nora Webster won the Hawthornden Prize. The Magician won the Folio Prize. In 2021, he received the David Cohen Prize. This award is sometimes called the "UK and Ireland Nobel" for literature.
Colm Tóibín has taught writing at universities. He was a professor at the University of Manchester. From 2017 to 2022, he was the leader (Chancellor) of the University of Liverpool. Today, he teaches at Columbia University in New York City.
Contents
Colm Tóibín's Early Life
Colm Tóibín was born in 1955 in Enniscorthy, a town in County Wexford, Ireland. He grew up in a quiet home. When he was young, he had trouble reading and developed a stammer.
When he was eight, his father became very ill. His mother took his father to Dublin for care. Colm and his brother stayed with an aunt. His father, a schoolteacher, passed away when Colm was twelve years old.
Tóibín went to St Peter's College, Wexford for high school. He lived there as a boarder. He also served as an altar boy in church.
After high school, he studied at University College Dublin (UCD). He thought about working for the government but decided against it. In 1975, he moved to Barcelona, Spain. He arrived just before Francisco Franco died. This city later appeared in his first novel, The South, and his non-fiction book Homage to Barcelona.
In 1978, Tóibín returned to Ireland. He started writing for a magazine called In Dublin. From 1982 to 1985, he was the editor of Magill magazine. He left this job after a disagreement.
Colm Tóibín's Personal Interests
Tóibín enjoys playing tennis in his free time. He once met famous tennis player Roger Federer. He also doesn't watch television.
He has family in Enniscorthy, including two sisters and a brother. He lives in Dublin, where he sometimes hosts friends.
After winning the International Dublin Literary Award in 2006, he used the prize money to build a house near Blackwater, County Wexford. This was a place where he spent holidays as a child. He filled the house with art and nice furniture.
What Influences Colm Tóibín's Writing?
Colm Tóibín admires many writers. He especially likes the works of Henry James. Some of his favorite James novels include The Portrait of a Lady and The Golden Bowl.
He also enjoys the books of Thomas Mann, like Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain. He first read Buddenbrooks when he was a teenager.
Two non-fiction writers, Joan Didion and Norman Mailer, influenced his early non-fiction work. He said his first novel's sentences were inspired by Didion.
When he was 17, Tóibín worked as a barman for a summer. He spent his days reading The Essential Hemingway. This book made him want to visit Spain. It also taught him that good writing can be "glamorous" and "shaped." He learned that emotions can be shown in what is not said.
A poet named Eavan Boland introduced him to the poetry of Louise Glück. Tóibín said that some of his later books would not have been possible without reading Glück's work. When Glück won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Tóibín quickly wrote an article praising her.
Colm Tóibín's Writing Process
Tóibín believes his writing comes from quiet moments. He doesn't see himself as a storyteller in the usual way. He says finishing a novel is like putting a child to sleep; it needs to be done gently.
When he writes a first draft, he only uses the right side of the page. Later, he rewrites on the left side. He keeps a computer in another room to type up his work later.
He finds writing to be a difficult process. He once said that when you write, you should be uncomfortable. He believes you need to "pull things up from within yourself."
His Novels and Short Stories
After The South (1990), Tóibín wrote The Heather Blazing (1992). Then came The Story of the Night (1996) and The Blackwater Lightship (1999).
His fifth novel, The Master (2004), is a fictional story about the writer Henry James. Another writer, Cynthia Ozick, praised how Tóibín showed James's thoughts forming.
In 2009, he published Brooklyn. This book was made into a movie in 2015. It's about a young Irish woman named Eilis Lacey who moves to Brooklyn.
In 2012, Tóibín released The Testament of Mary. In 2014, he wrote Nora Webster. This novel tells the story of a mother in Wexford dealing with sadness after her husband dies. A new book, Long Island, came out in 2024. It is a follow-up to Brooklyn.
Tóibín has also written two collections of short stories. His first, Mothers and Sons (2006), explores the relationships between mothers and their sons. His second collection, The Empty Family (2010), was nominated for an award.
Non-Fiction and Other Works
Tóibín has written many non-fiction books. These include Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border (1994) and The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe (1994).
He has written articles for many well-known publications. These include the London Review of Books and The New York Review of Books. He has written thousands of articles.
He is also known as a literary critic. He edited books on other writers, like The Kilfenora Teaboy (1997) about Paul Durcan. He also helped write The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English Since 1950 (1999).
His essay collection Love in a Dark Time: Gay Lives from Wilde to Almodóvar (2002) explores the lives of famous people. In 2012, he wrote New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Writers and Their Families. This book looks at the lives of writers like James Baldwin and W. B. Yeats.
In 2015, he published On Elizabeth Bishop, a study of the poet Elizabeth Bishop. In 2016, he visited Israel to write an article for a book about the Israeli occupation.
Tóibín has also written plays and poems. His play, Beauty in a Broken Place, was performed in Dublin in 2004. His poem "Father & Son" appeared in The New York Review of Books in 2021. It describes a son developing a stammer, similar to Tóibín's own experience.
His personal notes and workbooks are kept at the National Library of Ireland.
Teaching and Lecturing
Colm Tóibín has been a visiting professor at several universities. These include Stanford University, The University of Texas at Austin, and Princeton University. He has also given talks at many other colleges.
He was a professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester. He now teaches at Columbia University.
In 2015, he gave a talk in Dublin about being gay in Ireland. He discussed the diaries of Roger Casement and the works of Oscar Wilde.
In 2017, he was chosen as the leader (Chancellor) of the University of Liverpool.
Publishing Company
Colm Tóibín started a publishing company called Tuskar Rock Press. He founded it with his agent, Peter Straus. The company is based in Dublin.
Main Themes in Colm Tóibín's Work
Tóibín's books often explore several key ideas:
- Life in Irish society.
- Living away from home (in exile).
- The influence of the Catholic Church.
- How creativity works.
- Keeping your own identity, especially when facing loss.
- Ideas about being a man and a father.
His "Wexford" novels, like The Heather Blazing and The Blackwater Lightship, use his hometown of Enniscorthy as a setting. They also touch on Irish history and the death of his father.
Brooklyn is about a woman moving from Enniscorthy to Brooklyn. Characters from Brooklyn also appear in Nora Webster.
Some of his novels, like The Story of the Night and The Master, are about characters living outside Ireland. They deal with finding one's identity while living abroad.
His first novel, The South, combines these themes. It can be read with The Heather Blazing to show different parts of Wexford's history. It also fits with his "living abroad" novels.
Another theme in his work is the act of creation. This is seen in The South (about painting) and The Heather Blazing (about a judge's careful words). This idea is fully explored in The Master, which is a study of identity.
His short story collection Mothers and Sons looks at family relationships in Ireland and Spain.
A reviewer in The New Yorker noted that Tóibín's characters are often careful when they speak. His novels show a struggle between those who know their feelings and those who don't. His writing uses simple actions and moments of listening. It avoids too many metaphors or explanations.
Colm Tóibín once learned that eight of his novels feature a character swimming in cold water. He had not noticed this pattern himself!
Awards and Honours for Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín has received many awards and honors for his writing.
- He was chosen to be a member of Aosdána, a group of Irish artists supported by the Arts Council.
- In 2011, he received the Irish PEN Award for his contributions to Irish literature. The Arts Council director called him "a champion of minorities."
In 2017, Tóibín spoke out against a new rule from the Arts Council. The rule would require artists to constantly produce work to receive a basic income. He argued that great writers like W. B. Yeats and James Joyce had periods when they didn't produce much. He said that art cannot be forced.
In 2011, a newspaper called The Observer listed Tóibín as one of Britain's top "public figures leading our cultural discourse."
Here are some of his major awards:
- 1993: Encore Award for The Heather Blazing
- 1999: Nominated for the Booker Prize for The Blackwater Lightship
- 2004: Nominated for the Booker Prize for The Master
- 2004: Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction for The Master
- 2005: Lambda Literary Award for The Master
- 2005: Stonewall Book Award for The Master
- 2006: International Dublin Literary Award for The Master
- 2007: Became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
- 2008: Received an honorary degree from the University of Ulster
- 2009: Nominated for the Booker Prize for Brooklyn
- 2009: Costa Novel Award for Brooklyn
- 2011: Irish PEN Award for his contribution to Irish literature
- 2013: Nominated for the Booker Prize for The Testament of Mary
- 2015: Hawthornden Prize for Nora Webster
- 2017: The Dayton Literary Peace Prize Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award
- 2017: Received an honorary doctorate from the Open University
- 2019: Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2021: David Cohen Prize for Literature
- 2022: Folio Prize for The Magician
- 2025: Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award for Long Island
See also
- LGBT culture in New York City
- List of LGBT people from New York City
