One-to-One with author Colm Tóibín

Tóibín’s latest novel “Brooklyn” portrays the immigrant experience and the complexities of what finally makes a place home. It tells a seemingly simple tale of a young girl and her immigration from Ireland to New York.

The Irish novelist and journalist Colm Tóibín was educated at University College Dublin where he read History and English. The author of a number of fiction and non-fiction works, Tóibín is also a regular contributor to various newspapers and magazines.
His novels include the titles "The South," which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and won the Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for First Book and "The Heather Blazing" which won the Encore Award for the best second novel. His collection of short stories, “Mother and Sons,” has just be released in German translation.

In this week’s Inspired Minds, Colm Tóibín talks to Breandáin O’Shea about short story writing, his admiration for the author John Banville and why the tale of his latest novel “Brooklyn” could be the tale of so many Irish immigrants.