One of the most critically acclaimed of contemporary authors, Colm Tóibín is an Irish novelist, poet and critic, whose work has scooped numerous literary awards and been nominated multiple times for the Booker Prize.
Long Island
A Long Winter
Nora Webster
The Magician
The Master
The Testament of Mary
The Blackwater Lightship
The Heather Blazing
House of Names
The Story of the Night
Long Island
The Master
The Heather Blazing
The Story of the Night
The Blackwater Lightship
The News from Dublin
Homage to Barcelona
Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know
The Empty Family
A Guest at the Feast
Mothers and Sons
The Sign of the Cross
On James Baldwin
Lady Gregory's Toothbrush
Love in a Dark Time
The Bridge
New Ways to Kill Your Mother
Henry James and American Painting
Pale Sister
On Elizabeth Bishop
A Guest at the Feast
After making his name in Irish journalism in the 1980s, Tóibín produced his debut novel, The South, in 1990. Based heavily on his time in Barcelona and a conscious nod towards Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia, the book scooped the Whitbread First Novel Award. Subsequent works, such as The Heather Blazing and The Blackwater Lightship, have dwelt upon Tóibín’s Irish heritage and are set in the author’s home town of Enniscorthy in County Wexford. As well as exploring issues of Irish history and cultural identity, Tóibín’s work frequently examines homosexual love and gay lifestyles, either in contemporary society or period novels, such as the Booker Prize-shortlisted The Master, a fictionalised account of the later life of Henry James. 2009’s Brooklyn, an exquisite novel about the Irish immigrant experience in 1950s New York, brought Toibin both critical acclaim and commercial success and was adapted into a Hollywood movie in 2015. It’s sequel Long Island (2024) was similarly lauded and shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year. Other notable works includeThe Testament of Mary and Nora Webster.
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