Sublime Fiction and Literary Influences with Colm Tóibín

Please be aware the venue for this event has now changed to St Swithin’s Church.

Colm Tóibín is a towering figure in British literature: a leading critic, an unparalleled novelist and a warm, witty and captivating speaker. He will be speaking on his two latest books, his Costa Novel Award shortlisted, Nora Webster, and his biography of Elizabeth Bishop.

Nora Webster, once again set in Enniscorthy, harks back to Tóibín’s much-loved novels Brooklyn and Blackwater Lightship. Toibin’s love letter to Ireland, Nora Webster is a superbly painted portrait of personal grief against a political backdrop of an Ireland in flux.

Tóibín will also talk on one of his greatest literary influences, Elizabeth Bishop. In his biography, On Elizabeth, he explores her experiences of loss and exile, drawing a compelling double portrait of both Bishop and Tóibín himself.

No matter the subject, Tóibín’s talks are always full of life and humour, and this is a chance to see him in both his guises as a writer and as a lover of literature.