Interview

Colm Tóibín: ‘You can’t force a book. It is like composing a song: you have to wait for a melody’

One of Ireland’s most acclaimed and prolific authors shares with Ben Haugh some of the most important things he has learned and observed about the art of reading and writing

Colm Tóibín: ‘From the first novel, there is always a period of pure emergency that arises from a panic that if I don’t work now, this book will not get written.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

Colm Tóibín is one of Ireland’s most prolific writers, having penned ten novels, nine non-fiction books, along with many short stories, novellas and even a play. The acclaimed author’s works have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize multiple times, and his honours include the Costa Novel Award, the Impac Award and the David Cohen Prize for Literature last year. Tóibín’s latest book, A Guest at the Feast, is a collection of essays published over the ...