Meet the author: Colm Tóibín
Locations
Category
Price
Language
Meet the author
The meetings with writers at Passa Porta, prepared with passion, courage and thoroughness, are more than simply the presentation of literary works. We seek to achieve a genuine connection between writer and reader, and among readers themselves.
Go to overviewColm Tóibín broke through commercially with Brooklyn, a novel about a young woman who leaves Ireland in the 1950s to try her luck in New York. The book was widely read, the film adaptation was nominated for three Oscars, and the main character stole many hearts. Now, with Long Island, we have a sequel. Tóibín will be in Brussels to talk about it with Annelies Beck.
Ireland, and especially Irish history, is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for writers. This is also evident in Colm Tóibín’s output. He has written eleven novels in his career, which now spans thirty years, as well as short-story collections, essays, plays and screenplays. His mantelpiece is full of awards: International Dublin Literary Award, Costa Novel Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize and many more.
His biggest success was with Brooklyn, which sold 350,000 copies and was filmed with Saoirse Ronan in the leading role. In it, Tóibín describes the life of a young Irish woman who leaves her homeland to build a new life in New York. There, she gets engaged to Tony, a young Italian American, but when her sister dies and she returns to support her mother, she is overwhelmed by doubt and the attention of a decent Irish man. Her mother desperately wants her to stay, but at the end of the book she chooses to follow her heart and takes the boat back to New York.
Fifteen years after the publication of Brooklyn, here is the sequel that many readers have been waiting for: in Long Island, Tóibín picks up the life story of his heroine Eilis Lacey. She is now twenty years older, living on Long Island with Tony and their two children, and increasingly wondering whether she made the right choice at the time. Her mother’s eightieth birthday is an opportunity for her to travel to her homeland with her children and face her past.
Long Island is another masterful novel in a body of work that continues to grow richer. Annelies Beck will talk to the Irish maestro about Eilis Lacey and the many other unforgettable characters he has given us.
- The Guardian
- The Telegraph
- The Times
About the author
Colm Tóibín (b. 1955) is one of the most widely read contemporary Irish writers. He writes both fiction and non-fiction and has received countless nominations and awards for his work. His best-known novels are The Blackwater Lightship, Brooklyn, The Master and The Testament of Mary. Long Island, the long-awaited sequel to Brooklyn, was published in 2024. He has taught at the University of Manchester, the University of Liverpool and Columbia University in New York.
About the moderator
Annelies Beck (b. 1973) is a writer, journalist and presenter of Terzake. She has written two novels: Over het kanaal (2011), a historical novel set during World War I, and Toekomstkoorts (2019), about a Belgian attempt to colonize Brazil.
Org. Passa Porta, Flagey