Colum McCann facts for kids

Colum McCann (born in 1965) is an Irish writer. He writes literary fiction, which means his stories are often deep and explore human experiences. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, and now lives in New York.

McCann is known around the world. He believes that everyone has a story to tell, and that sharing these stories helps us understand each other better. This idea is called the "democracy of storytelling." He has won many awards, like the U.S. National Book Award and the International Dublin Literary Award. His books have been printed in over 40 languages.

He has written seven novels and three collections of short stories. Some of his famous books include Apeirogon (2020), TransAtlantic (2013), and Let the Great World Spin (2009). This last book won the National Book Award. His book American Mother (2024) tells the story of Diane Foley, whose son, James Foley, was a journalist. McCann is also a co-founder of Narrative 4, a group that helps young people learn empathy through stories.

Early Life and Education

Colum McCann was born in 1965 in Dublin, Ireland. His mother was from Derry in Northern Ireland. He spent his summers there with his family. His father, Sean McCann, was a newspaper editor and a writer. Colum loved watching his father work in the newsroom.

McCann started writing when he was just eleven years old. He rode his bike around Dun Laoghaire and wrote about local soccer games for a newspaper. Even though his father told him not to become a journalist, McCann started his career as a newspaper writer. He studied journalism in Dublin. He wrote for several Irish newspapers and was named "Young Journalist of the Year" in 1983. McCann says this experience helped him become a fiction writer.

Career Highlights

Moving to the U.S.

In 1986, McCann moved to the United States to become a fiction writer. He first lived in Hyannis, Massachusetts, where he worked on a golf course and as a taxi driver. He bought a typewriter and tried to write a big novel. But he soon realized he needed more life experience.

Between 1986 and 1988, he rode his bicycle across the United States. He traveled about 12,000 kilometers (8,000 miles). He said this trip helped him "expand his lungs emotionally." He wanted to meet many different people and hear their stories.

During his trip, he stayed with Native Americans in Gallup, New Mexico. He also lived with Amish people in Pennsylvania. He fixed bikes in Colorado and helped fight fires in Idaho. He found that people would share their deepest secrets with him, even if they had just met. He believes this trip helped him learn to listen to others.

In 1988, he moved to Brenham, Texas. He worked with young people who had gotten into trouble. He finished his college education at the University of Texas at Austin. A story he wrote for a campus magazine was chosen for Britain’s Best Short Stories of 1993. This was an early success for him.

Early Books

In 1993, McCann moved to Japan with his wife, Allison. They taught English there. McCann finished his first collection of short stories, Fishing the Sloe-Black River. He also started his first novel, Songdogs. After a year and a half, they moved back to New York City. He, his wife, and their three children still live there. In 1994, he won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. This award is given to talented young Irish writers.

McCann's early books were well-liked by critics. However, they did not sell enough copies for him to be a full-time writer yet. In the 1990s, he wrote plays and movie scripts. One of these was the film When the Sky Falls.

Becoming a Successful Novelist

This Side of Brightness (1998) was McCann's first international bestseller. This novel is about the New York City subway. It follows the "sandhogs" who built the tunnels in the early 1900s. It also tells about homeless people who lived in the tunnels in the 1980s. McCann was inspired by real events where workers were blown out of subway tunnels. He spent a lot of time researching the book by going into the subway tunnels.

In 2000, McCann released Everything in This Country Must. This book has two short stories and a novella about The Troubles in Northern Ireland. He used the conflict as a background but kept an "imaginative distance" from reality. This is a common style in his writing. One of the stories was made into a short film. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2004.

McCann's next novel, Dancer, tells a fictional story about the life of Rudolf Nureyev, a famous ballet dancer. McCann taught English in Russia in 2001 to research this book.

For his 2006 novel Zoli, McCann explored themes like being an outsider and empathy. The main character is based on a real Polish-Romani poet named Bronisława Wajs (Papusza). McCann spent two months visiting Romani camps in Europe to research the novel.

Let the Great World Spin and Global Fame

McCann's fifth novel, Let the Great World Spin (2008), made him famous around the world. The story takes place on August 7, 1974. This was the morning that Philippe Petit walked on a high wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. The novel follows different characters in New York City. Some of them saw Petit's amazing walk.

The book is like a hidden story about the 9/11 attacks. It only mentions the attacks in one line. McCann's father-in-law worked in the North Tower and escaped on 9/11. McCann's young daughter said her grandfather was "burning from the inside out." This line became a powerful idea for McCann.

Let the Great World Spin was highly praised. McCann won the 2009 National Book Award for Fiction for it. He was the first Irish-born writer to win this award. The novel also won the 2011 International Dublin Literary Award.

Writings of the 2010s

In 2010, McCann worked with Alonzo King on a ballet called Writing Ground. McCann's poetry was part of the ballet's program. The dances were set to sacred music from different cultures.

In 2013, McCann published TransAtlantic. This novel, like many of his others, uses multiple characters and voices. It tells stories based on real events. The book connects the first non-stop transatlantic flight in 1919 with the visit of Frederick Douglass to Ireland in 1845. It also includes the story of the Irish peace process in 1998.

In 2014, McCann was attacked in New Haven, Connecticut. He was trying to help a woman who was being beaten. He told a newspaper that it was ironic because he was at a conference about "Empathy" at the time. He had already started writing his next short story collection, Thirteen Ways of Looking. The book includes a story about an on-street attack, which he wrote before his own experience. This book won a Pushcart Prize.

Every week in 2016, McCann wrote a blog post giving advice to young writers. These posts were later published as a book called Letters to a Young Writer in 2017.

In 2019, McCann returned to writing for the stage. He worked on a one-woman show called Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom. This show is based on James Joyce's famous novel Ulysses.

2020s: Apeirogon and Future Works

In the late 2010s, McCann traveled to the Middle East. He started working on his novel, Apeirogon. He wanted to write a novel that showed "not the two-state solution, but the two-story solution." The book was published in February 2020. It tells the story of two men—one Israeli and one Palestinian. Both of their daughters died in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They met in a group for parents who lost children in the conflict. McCann calls Apeirogon his "Narrative 4 novel" because it focuses on empathy and unexpected connections. The book was well-received and was longlisted for the Booker Prize.

His next book, American Mother, came out in March 2024. It tells the story of Diane Foley. Her son, James Foley, was a freelance journalist. He was captured and killed while reporting in Syria. McCann was surprised to see a photo of James Foley reading his book, Let the Great World Spin.

McCann's next novel, Twist, is expected to be released in 2025.

Awards and Recognition

Colum McCann is known for his belief in the "democracy of storytelling." His books have been translated into over 40 languages. His work has appeared in famous magazines like The New York Times and New Yorker.

He has received many awards, including the U.S. National Book Award and the International Dublin Literary Award. He also received an Oscar nomination for a short film based on his story.

Some of his other honors include a Pushcart Prize and the Rooney Prize. Esquire Magazine named him a "Best and Brightest" young novelist in 2003. He is a member of Aosdána, an Irish association of artists.

In 2009, he won the National Book Award for Let the Great World Spin. The French government also honored him as a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres. In 2010, Let the Great World Spin was named Amazon.com's "Book of the Year." He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

In 2011, Let the Great World Spin won the International Dublin Literary Award. This is one of the most valuable literary awards in the world.

McCann has also received honorary degrees from the Dublin Institute of Technology (2012) and Queen's University, Belfast (2013). His novel Transatlantic was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013. In 2020, Apeirogon was also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Helping Others: Philanthropy

Narrative 4

McCann with a group of students at a Narrative 4 story exchange

In 2012, Colum McCann helped start Narrative 4. This is a global nonprofit organization. He is still the president of its board. Narrative 4 aims to use the power of stories to help young people improve their lives and communities. McCann says it's like a "United Nations for young storytellers." He believes storytelling is a true democracy because everyone has a story to share.

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, two teachers asked McCann for help. They thought his book Let The Great World Spin could help their students deal with their sadness. In 2013, McCann sent them books and visited the students. This led to a story exchange with 180 students. Students from Newtown High School also exchanged stories with students from Chicago. One teacher said that through story exchange, "kids find out they have the same hopes and fears."

The main activity of Narrative 4 is the story exchange. In this exercise, people work in pairs. Each person tells a personal story to their partner. Then, they go back to the larger group. Each person tells their partner's story as if it happened to them. McCann says that everyone has a story to share, even if they don't think so at first. Studies have shown that story exchanges help people feel more empathy for others.

Narrative 4 works in schools and communities around the world. It encourages young people to tell their stories. McCann says he always wanted to do more than just write books. He wanted to use writing to connect with people on a deeper level. Narrative 4 has offices in New York and Limerick, Ireland.

Other Charitable Work

Besides Narrative 4, McCann is involved with other charities in New York and Ireland. These include PEN, the American Ireland Fund, and the New York Public Library. He also supports Roddy Doyle's creative writing center, Fighting Words.

Personal Life

Colum McCann is married to Allison. They have three children.

In 2009, McCann wrote about his grandfather in The New York Times. He had only met his grandfather once. But he felt like he found him again by reading James Joyce's novel Ulysses. McCann wrote that his grandfather "was becoming flesh and blood through the pages of a fiction."

He has also written about his father, who was also a journalist. In an essay, McCann talked about the desire to connect with his father and the feeling of an emigrant wanting to return to their roots.

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