Colm Tóibín

The Irish writer Colm Tóibín grew up in a home where, he once said, there was "a great deal of silence". He has since made a career of talking to the world through his many volumes of fiction and non-fiction, drama, and poetry.

An international bestseller, his novel Brooklyn is the unforgettable story a young Irish immigrant and the complications surrounding love and family which she finds in the early 1950s. Brooklyn was given the Costa Novel Award, while the Observer named it one of "The 10 best historical novels". In 2019, the book was ranked 51st on the Guardian's list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. In 2015, Tóibín’s celebrated novel was turned into a film starring Saoirse Ronan which garnered four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

His novel Long Island continues the story of Eilis Lacey, first introduced in his acclaimed novel Brooklyn. A New York Times bestseller, the book was chosen for Oprah’s Book Club, and received star reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist. In their rave review the Star Tribune called the novel “a wonder, rich with yearning and regret.”  

Tóibín is also the author of The Heather Blazing; Nora Webster; House of Names; The Blackwater Lightship which was made into a film starring Angela Lansbury; The Master, which was awarded the International Dublin Literary Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, Stonewall Book Award, and Lambda Literary Award; and The Magician which was given the Rathbones Folio Prize. A standalone edition of his story A Long Winter from his collection Mothers and Sons was published by Scribner in 2025. A forthcoming film of A Long Winter directed by Andrew Haigh is currently in production. His story collection The News from Dublin (Scribner, March 31, 2026) was called "a beautiful, well-rounded collection" by Bookpage. His next book will be a short novel titled The Bridge (Scribner, December 1, 2026 [US] and Picador, 3 September 2026 [UK]).

Tóibín's literary conversation with the world explores a number of significant themes: the nature of Irish society, living in exile, the legacy of Catholicism, the process of creativity, and the preservation of personal identity, especially when confronted by loss.

Colm Tóibín (pronounced “cuh-lem toe-bean”) is many things – not only a novelist, but also a short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet. Among his works of non-fiction are The Modern Library: the 200 Best Novels Since 1950 (with Carmen Callil), a book on the Irish revival, Lady Gregory’s Toothbrush, New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Writers and Their Families, Love in a Dark Time: And Other Explorations of Gay Lives and Literature, On Elizabeth Bishop, All A Novelist Needs: Colm Tóibín on Henry James, On James Baldwin, and A Guest at the Feast: Essays. His book of poetry is titled Vinegar Hill. A book of essays, including his ‘Laureate Lectures’ titled Ship in Full Sale was published in Ireland by Gallery Press on September 4, 2025. Among the books he has edited are The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction and An Arrow in Flight (Scribner, March 3, 2026) short stories by Mary Lavin selected and introduced by Tóibín.  

Over the years, Tóibín's plays have been staged in Ireland and on Broadway. The Testament of Mary, which Tóibín based on his novella of the same name, was nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Play. He has also written the libretti for Lady Gregory in America, The Master, and the forthcoming The First Festival with music by Alberto Caruso, and Urban Legends with music by Andrew Synnott. The First Festival will premiere at the Wexford Opera in October 2026.

Tóibín has been honored with the E. M. Forster Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Irish PEN Award for contribution to Irish literature, Dayton Literary Peace Prize Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement, Premio Malaparte (Italy), Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award, David Cohen Prize for Literature, and the Bodley Medal. In 2022 the Arts Council of Ireland appointed him Laureate for Irish Fiction 2022-2024. In 2024 he received the Medal of Honor for Achievement in Literature from the National Arts Club.

Tóibín is Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He has curated exhibits for the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan, and, with his agent, Peter Straus, runs a small publishing imprint in Dublin, Tuskar Rock Press.

Colm Tóibín lives in Ireland and the United States.

Colm Tóibín's website