Colm Toibin
Colm Toibin
Colm Tóibínis an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic and poet...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth30 May 1955
CountryIreland
heart simple clothes
I like it that they [disciples] feed me and pay for my clothes and protect me. And in return I will do for them what I can, but no more than that. Just as I cannot breathe the breath of another or help the heart of someone else to beat or their bones not to weaken or their flesh not to shrivel, I cannot say more than I can say. And I know how deeply this disturbs them, and it would make me smile, this earnest need for foolish anecdote or sharp simple patterns in the story of what happened to us all, except that I have forgotten how to smile.
sleep dark second-chance
As I settled down to sleep in that new bed in the dark city, I saw that it was too late now, too late for everything. I would not be given a second chance. In the hours when I woke, I have to tell you that this struck me almost with relief.
treasure matter sides
It really matters to writers to find and treasure readers, all the more when they're on the other side of the world.
writing taught
John McGovern taught me that it's OK to write repeatedly about the same things.
barcelona minus
'One Minus One' and 'Barcelona, 1975' are more or less autobiographical.
book thinking offering
I think you can get a sort of intensity and an edginess offering nine stories in a book. Competing versions of things.
block ideas long
Writer's block! It doesn't exist. You just long for ideas to go away so you have an idea of peace.
book important fourth
It is important to find a publisher and equally important not to be noticed until your third or fourth book.
children sleep needs
I work very deliberately, with a plan. But sometimes I come to a point that I planned as the end and it needs softening. Ending a novel is almost like putting a child to sleep - it can't be done abruptly.
cheer insane biographies
If you have to read to cheer yourself up, read biographies of writers who went insane.
writing age barcelona
I wrote every day between the ages of 12 and 20 when I stopped because I went to Barcelona, where life was too exciting to write.
mean race talking
I said that when I looked at photographs of the firefighters who went into the Twin Towers, their faces looked to me like Irish faces. I hadn't yet learnt how careful outsiders have to be when talking about race in America, and I'd put my foot in it. Someone stood up and said aggressively, 'What do you mean by Irish faces?'
lonely ideas world
She was lonely without Blunt, but she was lonelier at the idea that the world went on as though she had not loved him.
real smart book
Roth Unbound is filled with intelligent readings and smart judgments. Because of the author's sympathy and sharp mind, it offers real insight into the creative process itself, and into Philip Roth's high calling as a great American artist. The book is, in some ways, a radical rereading of Roth's life and his work. It is impossible, by the end, not to feel a tender admiration for Roth as a novelist and indeed for Claudia Roth Pierpont as an empathetic and brilliant critic.